Chapter 2:
The Orb of Sight

She heard the footsteps come to a sudden stop next to her. Mustering her courage, Chihiro slowly forced herself to open her eyes and gaze down to her still aching hand, which lay curled into a fist next to her face. Although being a little redder than normal it appeared to be relatively fine, despite the intense heat and pain she had been feeling just moments before. Out of the corner of her eye Chihiro could see the edges of a blue dress touching the floor not far from her face. Her eyes slowly traveled up the dress until they got to the enormous face of an old woman who was staring down at her unblinkingly.

"Yubaba?" Chihiro asked hesitantly, not quite sure how or why she had come back to the bathhouse she had left all those years ago.
"No dear, it's me." The elderly woman smiled down warmly at Chihiro and offered her a hand up.

"Zaniba? Where are we and why am I here?" Chihiro asked, getting carefully to her feet and looking around as she flexed her still slightly aching fingers.

Zaniba shook her head and motioned for Chihiro to follow her to the familiar dining table. Once Chihiro settled into a chair and Zaniba poured the two of them a cup of tea, the silver-haired witch looked at Chihiro over her steepled fingers and began to speak.

"What do you remember of your last time here?"

Chihiro furrowed her brow in confusion and cautiously replied, "My parents turning into pigs, Haku saving me from Yubaba's malicious curse, me serving under Yubaba as Sen in a bid for my parents freedom - as well as my own, and finally freeing my family from the curse and crossing the bridge to be reunited with them. I never forgot anything, it's as clear to me as any of my other memories..."

"Incredible." Zaniba breathed out, her voice filled with wonder. "I never imagined that you would have retained all of your memories of your stay here. Usually humans gloss over memories that feel unreal or do not fit in with the predictable pattern of their daily lives."

Zaniba blinked once and her eyes focused on Chihiro's puzzled face once again, this time with purpose.

"Well no matter. This will certainly make it easier for me to fill you in on the more pertinent changes and events that you have missed. A lot has happened since you were last here. You know that time flows a bit differently here as opposed to the world that you normally live in. In the twelve years that you have been gone a lot of time has passed in our reality - one-hundred-and-fourty-four years to be exact."

Chihiro sucked in a breath as the magnitude of what she was being told hit her.

"But you look the same as when I first left, how is it that you are still alive? No offense," She hastily added glancing apologetically at Zaniba, while still looking thoroughly confused.

Zaniba smiled in assurance and calmly clarified, "Spirits do not normally age the way that humans do - we do not have a need for it. Our time usually tends to be infinite and so we choose the age of our form that is most to our liking. Bo for example really likes being a baby, and he will probably remain that way forever, regardless of the time that passes. However, there are sometimes exceptions to that. This actually happens to tie-in with the reason for the necessity of your return here.

"Your crossing that bridge and leaving our world had an adverse effect on poor Haku. No one had guessed at the time that you and Haku may have bonded a little too strongly for a spirit of his caliber. Spirits, especially those with dragon forms tend to be more vulnerable when forming emotional connections or bonds with other beings. Their loyal and protective nature demands that they ensure the safety of those they feel to be under their protection. You my dear were one of the few, if not only, beings to whom Haku has ever allowed himself to get close enough to impact him. Even before you entered our spirit world, you and Haku had already bonded when both of you were at a very vulnerable and impressionable age.

"Suffice it to say that the instant you left our world Haku withdrew into himself completely. His nonchalant demeanor took on a darker form as he started isolating himself from all other spirits and instead began demanding increasingly difficult missions from Yubaba in an attempt to stifle his loneliness. We did not understand what was going on initially. In retrospect it is clear that he was pining for you and was attempting to fill the void of your absence with missions that would take his mind off the emptiness that he was feeling.

"The first hint of the source of Haku's dramatic change became evident when his short hair started growing longer and his height began increasing inch by inch with the passing years. Yubaba finally made a connection between his aging and the speed at which time was passing in your world. Haku's maturing appearance directly matched your own. It appeared that he was synchronizing with your actual age without even realizing that he was doing so."

"But why would he do that?" Chihiro asked sounding confused.

"It most likely has to do with your powerful connection to each other. Suffice it to say that when you left Haku was out of sorts and his inner core was extremely vulnerable to attacks." Zaniba explained.

"Inner core?" Chihiro questioned, not familiar with the term. Looking thoughtfully over at the young human woman sitting not far from her, Zaniba placed a hand over her heart.

"It's one's essence - soul if you will. It is the part of us that makes us who we are and is also the source of our power. Haku's inner core had already started connecting with yours. When you left it tore holes in his essence, holes he has been trying hard to ignore. That is one of the reasons it is not wise to bond with humans - they never stay."

"I had no idea that by going home I was hurting Haku!" Chihiro exclaimed.

"If you had known would you have stayed?" Zaniba questioned with an arched brow.

"I was a little girl, I belonged with my parents, my family, I would never have been able to simply abandon them and stay here with Haku!"

Zaniba nodded. "I know that, and so did he, which is why Haku never said anything to you. He didn't want to burden you with the knowledge, nor make you feel guilty about your choice." Zaniba's lips pressed together in a thin line.

"That fool Kamaji, did he not see what he was doing, pushing the two of you even closer together and encouraging a bond that had no hope of surviving?" Zaniba's voice cracked a little as she dabbed at her eyes with her handkerchief.

"Zaniba, what has happened to Haku?" Chihiro asked fearfully, feeling a finger of trepidation trail slowly down her back. Zaniba had always been the calm comforting one, to see her reacting so emotionally was more than unsettling - it carried with it a warning that something was dreadfully wrong.

"It would be better if I show you child." Standing up the sorceress walked over to the centre of the room and with a wave of her hand produced a pulsing silver orb of energy that hung suspended in midair.

"What's that?" Chihiro asked as she stood up and joined Zaniba in front of the floating sphere.

"I call it the orb of sight. Through it I can see what my familiar sees." Zaniba replied as she motioned Chihiro closer.

"You mean that you can show me what happened?" Mesmerized by the shimmering energy swirling before her, the young woman asked her question in a slightly dazed voice.

"In a manner of speaking. I can only show you the remaining echoes. They are fragmented and often hazy, not to mention that the echo of an event is devoid of sound. However, it will give you a fairly good idea of what happened." Zaniba explained as she touched it once with a large ringed finger. A shimmer of energy rippled over the orb from the point of contact and then the orb itself started pulsing with a golden light, oddly reminiscent of a beating heart. In the wake of the ripples an image slowly began to take shape. Zaniba continued talking while motioning Chihiro closer.

"You see, several weeks ago a dark mass of energy got into the bathhouse and started wreaking havoc on everything within its reach. Yubaba stepped in and attempted to put an end to its destruction. However, there was an unforeseen complication."

The familiar entrance to the bathhouse came into view, followed shortly by a large, blue clothed figure with silver hair done up in a bun. Yubaba seemed to be hurling flames at something. A dark, writhing ball of energy evaded each blast of fire that headed its way, while shooting off parts of itself in all directions. The next moment a tall figure dressed in black intercepted one of the black bolts meant for Yubaba with an opposing blast of water. The figure moved too quickly to keep track of, especially with the blurriness of the images that were being shown by the orb of sight.

The next instant Chihiro saw the black-clad figure struck down by one of the dark bolts of energy. A split moment later Yubaba managed to get the dark writhing mass with a series of powerful fiery blasts. Upon impact it seemed to go up in smoke, leaving pieces of black flakes floating down to the ground in its place.

Suddenly the black figure got up off the ground, and then with incredible speed lashed out at Yubaba with a blast of water that nearly knocked her over. She immediately retaliated with flames - one of the blasts heading right for the Chihiro and Zaniba.

Chihiro jerked back reflexively, only to realize that the image had faded entirely. Zaniba smiled sadly at her and made a movement with her hand that caused the orb of sight to disappear.

"Zaniba what just happened? Why did that person help and then attack Yubaba? Is everyone in the bathhouse all right? Where was Haku and why didn't he help? Was he out on one of his missions?" Chihiro fired off questions faster than Zaniba could answer them. Deep down inside Chihiro felt a bundle of dread slowly spreading.

Zaniba shook her head. "I think you sense at least part of the answer... Haku was the young man who turned on Yubaba at the end of that echo fragment."

"That makes no sense! Haku is honorable, why would he turn on her when just a moment ago he was helping her?"

"Do you remember when I told you that Haku's inner core was damaged? This made him vulnerable in many ways. That mass of writhing dark energy was shooting off curses. Usually for a spirit of Haku's caliber this would not have been a problem, he would have just shaken it off. However, in his vulnerable state it took him over completely - his actions were no longer his. Haku is currently locked away somewhere inside himself, unable to fight for control of his own body."

"Can't somebody do something? Yubaba is powerful and so are you!" Chihiro pointed out desperately. Zaniba wouldn't meet her eyes.

"The curse holding him captive is too powerful for me to break. That is the reason I summoned you."

"What makes you think that I could do any better? I don't even have magic." Chihiro gestured at herself hopelessly.

"You do have power. Who was it that broke the curse on the seal that Haku had swallowed? My curse by the way, which was quite powerful I assure you. Maybe it is not pure magic that you have at your disposal, however your emotional bond with Haku, although damaged, is quite possibly the only thing powerful enough to combat the evil that is residing inside him at the moment. Are you willing to abandon him to this fate of internal slavery or will you once again stand up for those you care about?" Zaniba looked up at her in challenge.

Chihiro drew herself up. If Haku was in danger and she really was his last chance at freedom from the curse then there was really no question about it. She would do whatever she could to see this through.

"How can I get to Yubaba's bathhouse? Please tell me that there is a faster way than the one that I used last time."

Zaniba smiled and gestured for Chihiro to follow her.