Chapter 2: A granted wish, a second meeting

The door of the small cottage at Swamp Bottom literally flew open as the majestic dragon flew into the room in a hurry, reverting to his human form almost immediately as he had landed. The occupants of the house, however, seemed to be unsurprised at the sudden intrusion of the river god, with Zeniba reacting with a quick glance, and No-face nodding and greeting Haku in his own unique language.

"Zeniba, do you know anything about this?"

Slamming the crumpled, dirtied piece of paper onto the table on which the stout old lady was doing her work, the dragon stared intently at her, his whole body shaking in anticipation. Zeniba, as though she already knew why he was here for, gave a sad smile as she slowly shuffled her papers and set them aside.

"I was the one who sent it to you, how would I not know about it?" Ignoring the vast amount of questions that bombarded her upon this revelation, the witch reached out for a crystal ball that lay nearby and placed it right in front of her, an item that she had been using rather often ever since Chihiro left. Unbeknownst to the young brunette, her grandmother had always been keeping an eye on her, with the letter she had left behind on the heavy stone statue that stood guard in front of that gateway retrieved by none other than Zeniba, who had her own special connections to thank.

Placing a wrinkled hand over the ball, she infused her magic into it as she had done before, causing an image to appear within it, an image that caused the enraged dragon to cease all talk instantly.

"Chihiro..." he mumbled under his breath, his deep emerald eyes widened in surprise. She looked happy, laughing at the antics of her two best friends as those around stared at them awkwardly, not bothering about how others thought of her. It was as though she had forgotten all about their meeting, like what she had written in the letter addressed to him. Maybe he should just forget all about her... Like what she had done.

"Can't you tell?" Zeniba's voice brought him back from his thoughts, a frown warning of the anger within her that was on the verge of being unleashed on the clueless dragon. "She can't forget about you, even if she really wants to. A part of her may be trying to forget, but another part of her is waiting for you. For you to fulfill that promise of yours!"

"It's not like I can go in and out of this place like I want to," Haku muttered exasperatedly, running a lean, muscular hand through his green tinted hair. "What she chose to do is not without sense. Maybe it is for the best-"

All Haku could remember of what happened next was being stuck inside a slimy, wet area, unable to get out, as though he had been swallowed by someone...

"Chi-hi-ro!" A sharp jab to her side instantly jerked said girl out of her trance, pulling her back to reality as Anna pouted at the lack of attention that her friend was giving her. Laughing it off with the slightest trace of awkwardness in her smile, Chihiro could only sigh mentally, hiding her discomfort with her mind. It had already been three months. Three months, and yet she could still not get the incidents during that period of time out of her head, especially not a certain river god who seemed to be linked to practically everything surrounding her.

But the more important thing now was how to act as though nothing was troubling her. While she did trust her two best friends, the fact that Anna could not keep her mouth shut does not change. If the blonde learned of her secret, she would certainly let it slip sooner or later, accidental or not, and there would go her happy(?), peaceful life. She would have to return to the days where she was continuously warned that it was just her mind playing tricks on her, and the Spirit World belonged merely to her imagination, those hateful days where everyone who knew judged her for everything she did.

She had a hard enough time warding off kids, and now that she had grown up, being surrounded by the very group of people who had continuously tried to brainwash her that she was merely dreaming and knew of her 'dreams'... Chihiro was pretty sure she would not be able to withstand the pressure.

She nearly broke once. A second time was absolutely unnecessary.

"Chihiro?" The brunette looked up to see even the usually silent redhead speak, a worried look on her face.

"It's nothing, Tia. I'll tell you next time," she smiled reassuringly, she herself unsure whether the reassurance was directed towards her friend or herself. "I have to go now, I still have a mountain of undone homework." With that pathetic excuse, Chihiro waved a hasty goodbye and rushed off, leaving behind two very confused girls, one with a sneaking suspicion that the Japanese was keeping something very important from them, the other, fortunately or otherwise, completely clueless.

She knew what she was doing was nothing but running away from her problems, and a part of her that she chose to ignore knew that she could not run away from her own memories. They were a part of her, and had been so, ever since she set foot into the Spirit World.

The fact that her brain insists everything that surrounded her is linked to her trip there was proof enough of that.

I got the feeling I kind of killed off Haku's personality, since he is definitely more of the reserved, mature, does what is best kind of guy, so I'm trying to make up for it, but this is not turning out as well as I hoped ._.

And the chapter is really really short, I know, and I am really really sorry for raising your hopes, but I hit a dead end, so possible rewriting of this chapter? -hopeful smile- My brain is like a maze now, and I am hopelessly lost, so I need time to plan (Muahahahaha in school).

Then, there is still the problem of my -man fic.

Not updating for a month or so, since I have massive planning to do. And rewriting. I apologise greatly for my incompetency.

boredstalkerdude – THANKS XD I believe once she finds out, I'm a dead squirrel x_x