Chapter 3:
The Aftermath

Chihiro shook her head as she turned the knob of the door to Kamaji's boiler. She couldn't believe that Zaniba would suggest that Chihiro hitch a ride on Yubaba's familiar. First of all, it was a surprise to find out that it was hanging out with Zaniba; apparently they had gotten pretty close since the time when Zaniba had turned it into a fly all those years ago. The yubaba-bird had seemed a bit hesitant, that is before Zaniba shrunk Chihiro to the size of a flea. Chihiro had to bury herself into the hairstyle the yubaba-bird sported, in order to ensure that she did not fall off during the flight. It was not an experience she ever cared to repeat, however it did get her to the bathhouse much faster than the alternative.

As the door opened, Chihiro was hit with a blast of heat so strong that she had to squint her eyes at first. As her body adjusted to the increase in temperature, she was surprised to see that not only was the room a bit smaller than she remembered but so was Kamaji. The spider-like spirit was helping himself to water from the tea kettle, just like old times. Upon seeing her walk in Kamaji stopped with the kettle partway to his opened mouth and stared at her in amazement. It was only when the kettle tipped a bit and the hot water dripped onto his chin that Kamaji snapped out of his stupor.

"Ah, um, madam. May I ask how a hu- I mean, how you found your way in here?" Kamaji asked, glancing nervously behind him at the door that connected the boiler room to the rest of the bathhouse.

"It's good to see you again Kamaji," Chihiro replied smiling softly at her old friend, waiting for the recognition to kick in. After all, she had never even changed her hairstyle and she was sure that enough of her features resembled the little girl that he had met.

His eyes widened after a few moments. "Chihiro? What are you doing back, child?" His voice sounded quite worried.

"I've come to help Haku. Tell me, how is he?" Chihiro asked, moving closer to the spider-like spirit.

Kamaji scratched his head and shrugged. "He's been cursed and went on a rampage of the bathhouse trying to kill Yubaba. She finally managed to contain him, but she is not very happy at the moment."

"Do you know what she's done to Haku? Has she hurt him?" Chihiro asked, remembering Yubaba's temper. She would not be surprised if the sorceress had decided to punish him as some form of revenge for what he had done.

Kamaji looked down sadly, his mustache drooping. "I don't really know, Yubaba doesn't really share much with me. Especially since she thinks that I've grown too attached to the boy." Seeing Chihiro look at him curiously Kamaji continued.

"We've been friends for a long time. I've always wanted to see him happy, and when he re-met you all those years ago he was like a whole new person. The times you were with him were the only ones where I ever saw him smile. For once in his life he looked - complete. I have never seen him fight so hard for another person, and the things that you went through yourself in order to save him... it was clear that you cared for each other and were meant to be together. At least that's what I thought... I guess I was wrong."

Not knowing quite how to answer that, Chihiro decided to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand. "Kamaji, is it true that Haku's inner core is damaged and that that's the reason the curse was able to overtake him so easily?"

Kamaji looked up at her in surprise and then looked deep in thought.

"It is quite probable that that's the case; it would explain many things. Why exactly are you here Chihiro?"

"Zaniba brought me back thinking that I could help Haku. To be honest though, I don't really know how." Chihiro added feeling a bit lost. Kamaji smiled at her and patted her back.

"You will find a way, the two of you always do."


As Chihiro entered the bathhouse she could see some of the damage that had been done by the fight. There were scorch marks on walls, along the floor, and even several tubs and pool edges were also charred. The servant spirits were scrubbing hard at the charred parts of the tubs trying to get them cleaned as quickly as possible. The further that Chihiro made her way into the room the more heads started turning toward her, some of the working spirits grabbing their noses and muttering about the stink of humans. With the rising commotion one of the servant ladies who was scrubbing the tub nearest to Chihiro stood up and approached her.

The instant their eyes met Chihiro broke into a wide grin.

"Rin!" She called out and waved to her.

Rin's eyes widened in surprise. She smiled hesitantly at the human who stood before her.

"Chihiro? What are you doing here?" Then as if suddenly remembering where she stood, Rin glanced nervously over her shoulder at the rest of the large open chamber that served as the main floor of the bathhouse.

"Never mind, now is not a good time. Yubaba is in one of her moods and I don't know what she would do if she saw you here. You'd best hide out somewhere else until all this blows over." Rin gently started pushing Chihiro back the way she had come, her palm applying slight pressure to her back to get her moving.

Chihiro stopped moving and turned around, placing her hand on Rin's shoulder and looking earnestly into the eyes of her old friend. They were now nearly the same height, Chihiro noted in the back of her mind.
"Rin, I came to help Haku. I can't leave until I see him."

Rin looked as if she was about to argue when there was a sudden loud impact that sounded from the centre of the bathhouse. Chihiro looked behind Rin, already knowing what she would find. Meanwhile, Rin went stiff under her hand and turned around slowly as if dreading what she would find.

There stood Yubaba in the same blue dress as always, her hair slightly out of place and a little singed. Spotting Chihiro at the exact same time, Yubaba started steaming - literally. Little bits of steam were escaping from her body and magnifying the extent of her ire. The two seconds that it took Yubaba's face to reach an extremely unhealthy shade of red were all she needed to shoot forward and tower over Chihiro. Yubaba was probably the only one here so far who actually seemed just as large currently as in her memories.

"I thought I finally got rid of you, girl!" Her voice boomed throughout the entire bathhouse, nearly deafening Chihiro and even reverberating off the walls.

"Hello Yubaba." Chihiro said politely, remembering to bow respectfully. It paid to be polite, especially if it got Yubaba to calm down.

"I came to see Haku; I want to try and help him." Chihiro tried to keep the urgency from her voice, in case Yubaba decided to stretch this meeting out as long as possible, just out of sheer spite.

"See him?" Yubaba's voice was filled with incredulity as she waved her arm at the bathhouse.

"Have you seen what the brat has done to the place? I should have blown him to pieces right then and there! I must be getting senile in my old age!" Yubaba raged.

"Aren't you immortal?" Chihiro pointed out.

"That's beside the point!" The sorceress spat out stomping her foot and creating cracks in the ground from the impact.

"Can I see him?" Chihiro asked, worried that Yubaba would be going on another rant in a minute.

The question caught Yubaba by surprise and she paused to glance at the young woman before her.

"Why would you want to do something as suicidal as that?"

"Haku needs me, and from what I have learned it seems that my leaving all those years ago is partially responsible for what has happened to him. I want to help him, as I know he would want to help me if the situation were reversed. We're friends." Chihiro added that last part since Yubaba still observed her with a fair amount of disbelief. Finally Yubaba shrugged.

"If you want to, go ahead. No skin off my back if he kills you. I might finally get some peace and quiet around here."

Yubaba signaled for one of the frog servants to approach them.

"Take her to the dungeons to see the brat." The frog looked like it wanted to argue, not so much for Chihiro's sake but more for his own from the lump he tried to swallow around nervously.

Reluctantly taking a ring of keys from Yubaba the frog indicated that Chihiro was to follow him.

Turning around to thank Yubaba for her help Chihiro was not all that surprised to see the sorceress already halfway across the chamber berating one of the servant spirits about the state of the tub that she was cleaning.

Feeling a hand on her shoulder Chihiro glanced at Rin. Offering Chihiro a smile of encouragement Rin pulled her into a hug.

"Good luck." Chihiro heard her whisper, and then Rin turned around and walked back to help with the cleaning.

A throat being cleared caught her attention and made her turn back to her frog guide.

"Lead the way." Chihiro found herself saying, sounding a lot more confident than she actually felt.