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Chapter 6

Amaya was standing in the doorway to an unfamiliar house, staring into the hallway that led to other parts of the house – in the background she could hear the whistling of her father in a room she assumed to be the kitchen from the sounds of pots clinking together, and the sweet chirps of Sakura's bird in its cage near the window.

Pictures hung on freshly imbedded nails along the wall, and they were all of the family in younger years: her mother holding Amaya when she was a baby, lifting her chubby hand to wave at the camera, Sakura and Ruki learning to swim in their father's arms, her mother patiently pinning and sewing Amaya's first kimono while Sakura stood and watched in curiosity.

Amaya stepped into the house, and felt a strange flare of unease. She wasn't supposed to be here. This place…even with the pictures…was a strange and frightening place just beyond her reach; it wasn't a home in her eyes. It was just a hallway…filled with pictures that were almost trying to force her into remembering that feeling of warmth and security.

Her long pale fingers reached out to touch a picture that hung just beside the door, one that showed all three sisters standing on a bridge and leaning over the side, all of them somehow not looking at the camera. It had been taken only a year or two ago, and Amaya had her chin in her hands, smiling slightly, staring down at the flowing water beneath them. Slightly behind her was Ruki, her brown hair tied back into a ponytail as usual and her cheeks flushed with excitement as she jabbered to Sakura, who was grinning with delight as she pointed to something just beyond the camera.

Amaya smiled as she let her fingers drift downward, but something caught her eye. It was a wooden sign, and she leaned closer to read three bold words.

The Kohaku River

Something strong and powerful flared in the air behind her, outside the house. It was a mysterious and dangerous pressure, and yet Amaya was not afraid. It was beckoning her, inviting her deeper into that dark desire of the unknown.

It was that moment that her father chose to poke his head out the kitchen door, his hazel eyes bright and loving as he smiled at her.

"Hey, Amaya! Dinner's in five, okay? Can you go outside and find Ruki? I think she went off exploring again…"

Amaya nodded, wondering numbly why her father couldn't feel the energy coming from outside, and turned to descend down the stairs.

But then she was in front of that strange red building again, with the huge tunnel gaping before her.

"Amaya! I wonder what's in here!" Ruki said from behind her, and Amaya leapt forward to grab her hand before the girl could go into the tunnel.

"No, Ruki, remember what happened? We can't go in there, we'll be stuck in th–"

"Let her go." A voice spoke behind them, and Amaya turned to see Haku standing there, his emerald eyes cool and sparkling in the light of day, and Amaya felt a tugging on her heart as she stared at him.

She was falling into darkness, and the water surrounded her, cradling around her with exquisite tenderness.

The wind rushed past her as the creature she was riding on took her higher and higher into the clear night sky that was scattered with glittering stars.

A brown haired figure was suspended in a web of ice, and there was a pale blue light pulsing around her. But there was also a sickly purple color slowly but surely creeping up the web of ice, seeping into the figure's skin.

A scream filled the air, and–

–Amaya opened her eyes to the empty covers of Ruki's unmade bed, full of shadows created by the early morning light of dawn. A small frown crossed her lips as she imagined Yubaba ordering her little sister out of bed before sunrise, as she had been doing for the past two months since they had arrived in the spirit world.

In the beginning, Ruki and Amaya had been together most of the time, but Yubaba had suddenly began needing Ruki all the time, and Amaya only got to see her when she returned to the tower late in the night, and by the time she got there she was so tired that she could only collapse in weary defeat and fall asleep immediately.

The sky was lightening slowly behind the teenage girl, and she sighed as she rolled onto her back, throwing an arm over her face. Her mind sluggishly mulled over the directions Haku had given her for that day: help the cooks make breakfast for the overnight customers, report to Lin for her bath duties, which would go until lunch at noon, until she was ordered to report to Haku in the afternoon to sort and organize financial files. Which was easy, because mathematics was her best subject in school.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Amaya finally decided to get up, and she stretched her back with a huge yawn, running her hands through her hair to get rid of any tangles that might have accumulated during the night.

She was dressed in a thin blue tank top with equally thin white shorts – the underclothes of her usual salmon pink uniform worn by all the bath and hygiene workers. She moved to her right, and unfolded the outer robe and pants that were placed there, and slipped into them quickly, tying the robe back with the darker pink sash, tying a small bow at the small of her back, and tucking her hair behind her ears before slipping out of the spacious room, quietly closing the sliding door behind her.

The wood was cool and worn smooth with use, and Amaya quickly ran down the hall, darting down the stairs that led to the main staircase, which was beginning to be filled with early rising customers and busy workers. The inner lights lit up the bright paintings on the wall, and the steam from the hot baths rose up to cloak around the stairs and the people walking up and down.

"I'm sorry – excuse me – oh, pardon me!" Amaya quickly apologized to the many people she bumped into on her way down to the kitchens, cringing at the cynical sniffs most of them gave her. Being human still lingered on most of their minds, no matter how hard she worked. How had her mother managed it all? And at only ten years old, too!

Amaya shook her head as she reached the bottom floor, only to be nearly strangled by Usagi – the head cook – whose webbed fingers grabbed her shoulder roughly.

"You're late!"

"How am I late! I got here at exactly–"

"Are you calling me a liar, Cheeky?" Usagi growled, and Amaya sighed as he pushed her into the kitchen. The frogs in the kitchen hadn't bothered to remember her name, instead calling her "Cheeky", because of her witty rebelliousness, and because it made them laugh. Amaya honestly couldn't see what was so funny about it, but it sure was better than being called "Brat" or "Useless Human". But not much better.

"Now why would I do that, Master Usagi?" Amaya muttered under her breath, and brushed past the frog to tie her hair back with a cloth head covering, and moved towards the large pots that were on the oven tops, water already steaming within them. Another frog was waiting for her, and pushed her towards a large cutting board.

A mountain of vegetables and fish loomed over her, casting her into shadow, and the frogs behind her snickered evilly at the girl's horrified expression.

Amaya scowled, and turned to Usagi, who was watching her with a smug smirk on his green-tinged face.

"All of them?" Amaya knew the answer, but she had to ask, in case there was a glimmer of a chance that she didn't have to cut all of–

"All of them, Cheeky. And make it quick, because our customers are getting hungry."

Amaya's shoulders slumped, and with a dejected sigh she pulled the nearest vegetable towards her.

Amaya coughed as a burst of spicy steam blew into her face from one of the soup pots, and blinked rapidly to clear her eyes as she leaned away from the mixture, keeping a hold on the ladle so she could stir.

"Hey, how much longer should I stir this?" The girl yelled over the deafening chatter of the kitchen workers, and a small waitress – Amaya assumed that she was a woodland spirit, seeing as she had the customary animalistic traits – whose head barely reached my navel hopped up onto the counter to peer into the metal container. Amaya noticed that her dark green fur – she looked like a docile housecat, only a smartly dressed housecat who spoke and walked on two legs – looked almost faded, as if she was growing out of it. But her high-pitched voice pulled the human out of her observations a moment later.

"Hm…I'd say it's about done. Good thing too, because I've got plenty of soup orders. Let me–"

But just then, a clump of her fur fell off and landed in the center of the bubbling soup, dark green and sickly looking against the rich yellow soup that was scattered with various vegetables and herbs. Amaya stared at it for a moment, only to see it disappear into one of the bubbles, gone from sight.

There was silence – save for the constant noise behind them from unaware cooks and assistants – as Amaya and the woodland spirit stared down at the soup. The spirit was slowly backing away, but Amaya's hand was faster, and she grabbed the spirit by the collar, bringing her close to her face. The spirit's ears were pinned against her skull in shame and in astonished fear at the waves of fury pulsing from of the girl's eyes.

"What. The. Hell?"

"I'm sorry, Cheeky!"

"Oh you're sorry? You're not the one who's going to get yelled at!"

Amaya groaned, and dropped the spirit with a sigh. The spirit patted her robe back into place, and Amaya leaned her face against her hands, mumbling from between her fingers.

"You're a woodland spirit, right?"

"Yes."

"Can't you like…stop the whole shedding process? Doesn't it get annoying? And what's more, why the heck are you wandering around in the kitchen when this is going on?"

"Well, if you'd let me explain–"

Amaya waved her off. "Ugh, whatever, I really have to get back to work. I'll just stir the fur in and hope that nothing else happens, because I really don't have time to make a whole other batch…"

Amaya stirred the mixture around quickly, hoping to disperse the small amount of hair throughout the soup so no one would notice. But a few moments later, the pale creamy mixture started to glow, and Amaya's eyes narrowed down at the spirit, who was cringing into her paws.

"Um, yeaaaaahh…my fur is magic, it's what all woodland spirits are made of, so letting it mix into the food probably wasn't the best idea…"

"Oh, thanks! Really great of you to mention that! Why did you let me stir it in then!" Amaya snarled, grabbing the spirit and shaking her furiously. The mixture was glowing a faint green, and after a moment the light subsided, and Amaya quickly released the spirit in order to rush and peer inside. The spirit jumped up to look in too, and the both of them stared at what used to be fish and vegetable soup.

"What the hell is it?" Amaya whispered, and the spirit shrugged.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"It's your fur, dammit!"

The pot was now filled with a delicate green mixture that resembled pudding, with small dark chips of something intermixed inside. Amaya reached in to poke it with a spoon. It was soft, but much thicker than the soup had been, leaving a dent where Amaya's spoon pressed down. It was also cold, which left the two frowning in confusion.

Amaya frowned, and murmured. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say that it looks like ice-cr–"

The spirit's cat ears swiveled around as the cooks began ordering for soup and other meals to be put into serving bowls and places. Amaya smirked, and reached in to scoop a large dollop out of the container and slapped it on a china plate, sliding it down the serving line to where servers were waiting to take the meals up to the guests.

"W-What are you doing?" The woodland spirit hissed, her orange slanted eyes widening in shock as Amaya began unloading the green mixture onto plates.

"I hardly get to have any fun around here, so waiting to see people's reactions when tasting this will be priceless! And the best part is that they can never find out it was me! Hundreds of cooks make the same soup every day!"

The spirit raised an eyebrow in wonder as the human danced manically around the kitchen, finally finished with unloading the green mixture and was now pouring the normal soup into bowls.

Those orange eyes watched her every move, and after she was done the spirit approached Amaya again.

"I'm terribly sorry about that…"

Amaya smirked, and leaned down to bump the spirit playfully on the shoulder. "It's cool. I was more shocked than anything, and who knows! Maybe the customers will like it and ask for more!"

"Let's hope not. Anyway, the real reason I was sent down here was to retrieve you. Lin reported to the Master that some of her workers are sick, and she needs some more help with the morning baths. Master immediately sent me down to take you to her."

"Oh, thank God!" Amaya threw her apron down and stepped on it a few times before throwing it at the nearest frog, where the stained fabric hit him full on in the face. "Take that! I'm done with this place! Sweet freedom!"

The girl took off out of the kitchen, cheering as she did so.

The small woodland spirit stood staring at her for a few moments, and she heard a familiar set of footsteps behind her. She turned to see Usagi picking up Amaya's apron from the ground and folding it over his arm with a small smile.

The spirit cleared her throat. "Sweet freedom, huh?"

"Yep. I don't think she realizes that she's coming back tomorrow, because she does that every time she leaves. Bah! Tell Haku to send down more supplies, eh, Sari?"

Sari nodded, smiling at the affectionate gruffness in the frog's voice, and quietly exited the kitchen, closing the door softly behind her. The frog went to hang up the apron, muttering under his breath the entire way.

Sari darted up the stairs, and perched herself on one of the railings that overlooked the baths, her tail waving behind her, and watched as Amaya chattered cheerfully to one of the younger servants, who looked surprised at the boldness of the human girl.

Humans were indeed strange creatures. But also so innocent and full of life...their time to brief and fleeting. That's what made them so memorable, their sense of justice, their trust, and their strength.

Sari remembered when that other little girl was here, the one with the large brown eyes and thick ponytail. That brave face, alight with youthful excitement and that assured voice that made the most devious spirit waver with uncertainty. Not Yubaba's little servant – Ruki, yes, that's it – that she kept around her nowadays, but the one from before.

What was that name that Haku mentioned?

Oh yes…it was Chihiro.

Yubaba's current servant sent chills down the woodland spirit's spine, though she couldn't quite understand why. Maybe it was the realization that that girl – even though she looked like her – was not Chihiro, and never would be. Maybe it was the slow stirrings of darkness moving like a poison through her eyes and through her very soul.

Orange eyes flickered in the firelight as they watched Amaya head to one of the baths alongside Lin, her hair tied back and her face alight with laughter at the foreman's sour expression.

Ruki was not the same as Chihiro had been.

Amaya was not the same either, and in ways was even more different from Chihiro than Ruki was.

But Amaya was also six years older than Chihiro had been when she arrived here…maybe the spirits were getting a glimpse into what Chihiro could've grown into if she had been able to stay.

Maybe…maybe.

Sari watched for a moment longer, and then disappeared into the steamy air, leaving nothing but the smell of freshly picked mint behind her.

About thirty minutes later, there was a deafening sound of several dozen customers gagging and retching, and the sound of soft mush hitting the wall with a splatter, which was followed by the sounds of yells and even someone crying on the lower floor.

And if you listened very closely, you could hear the hysterical giggles of a certain human on the very top floor, who was currently slapping high-fives with her younger sister. The teenager and the young girl both were grinning, even though the later had no idea what they were celebrating about.