Aww!!!! I wuvvles you all! Thanksies for all of the nice, shiny reviews! I know I'm a pig, though, because I want more reviews! I shall not be satisfied! I feel so selfish! But, oh well! LOL, I really AM selfish.
Ok, hakulover88 says Haku's hair is really dark green, so I'm going to keep it to black. Like I said earlier, I don't want him to be made fun of for his oddly colored hair.
I wonder if I could rent that movie? I haven't seen it in a while, and the only reason I thought of making a fanfic for it was because I printed off the sheet music for one of hte main song themes. (It's for piano, email me if you want the sheets! - )
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Chihiro sighed in relief when the bell rang, signaling lunch. It seemed that she was always paired with Haku, and even though both were hard workers, the projects they did were always only half done. The DNA project was only 5 nitrogen links long, instead of 10, and the compostition they had to write in Literature still needed a few more paragraphs to make it long enough, single-spaced.
That didn't really matter, though. Chihiro was really, truly happy, because she was able to spend time with the boy she had missed so much for those 3 months. Chihiro could feel her anxiety rising as she pulled Haku up the steps to the roof, stopping only long enough to grab her bento from her locker.
Stepping out into the crisp mid-morning air, Chihiro breathed in deeply and turned to face Haku. Flinging her bento off to the ground beside her, the small girl grasped Haku into a tight bear hug. She let her face rest on his shoulder, tears threatening to fall from her brown eyes. Chihiro was a bit shocked to feel arms come up, wrapping themselves around her small form.
"I'm glad you're back, Haku," Chihiro said in a small voice, but her voice was muffled from the cloth in her face.
"I'm just glad you haven't forgotten me." Chihiro gasped at the boy's warm reply, and she lifted her head to look up into his eyes.
"Why..no, how could I forget about you, or Lin, or anyone else form the Spirit World?" Haku must have noticed that Chihiro was on the verge of tears, because he shushed her and let a hand push her head gently back into his chest.
"Chihiro," Haku began hesitantly, "There is a reason I'm here, besides to see you."
Chihiro turned her head so that only one side of her face was pushed up to Haku. "Yeah, you said something about that earlier. Is there something wrong at the bath house?"
Haku pushed his friend away and held her tightly by the shoulders at arms length. His voice was shaking a tad bit when he said, "Let's sit down. It might take a while to explain."
Chihiro nodded and dragged Haku over to the edge of the roof, where they could sit and lean against the railing, all while taking in the beautiful scenery. Chihiro opened her bento and offered it to Haku. "Would you like some?" she asked politely.
Haku shook his head no, and Chihiro lowered the food into her lap. She didn't seem hungry all of a sudden.
"Chihiro, could you ever imagine Yubaba being replaced?" Haku asked dreamily, as though he weren't totally in focus at the moment. Chihiro thought for a moment, and then truthfully shook her head no. Haku sighed, and Chihiro sensed that the long part of the explanation was coming up soon.
"Well, you see, about a week or two after you left, Yubaba became desperately ill. She must of suffered for those last few weeks of her life," Haku said quietly. Chihiro shivered as an unkind image entered her mind, and she tugged on Haku's sleeve. "Haku, please, continue."
Haku blinked, and then lapsed back into his story. "A few days after the ceremony to mourn her death, a strange man appeared in front of the bath house. He claimed to be Yubaba's husband, but the thing is, nobody has ever met the man before. No one can even believe Yubaba actually married him. The problem is, Kosuke, the man, believes he rightfully inherits the bath house."
Chihiro broke in with, "But, wouldn't Boh be the first to inherit it?"
Haku made a face. Even with that ugly frown on his face, Chihiro thought he looked beautiful, with his hair swaying in the breeze and his features sharp in the Sun's glorious light. "Of course he would, but Kosuke's taken over the bath house completely, and he treats the employees like slaves, instead of real sprits. Yubaba and Zeniba attempting to work together couldn't have been worse."
Chihiro leaned against the railing behind her. The cold iron seeped through her school jacket, and it felt surprisingly good. "How are you going to stop him?" she asked. She wasn't all that good at these sorts of problems.
Hakuleaned in to Chihiro and looked deeply into her eyes. "I came here to ask you that," he said.
Chihiro looked away, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. "I have no idea," she murmured. Glancing at the watch she was wearing Chiho sighed and stood up. "We have to get going, the bell will ring soon. But, Haku, one last quick question."
"What?" Haku asked, getting up and following Chihiro through the roof door down onto the staircase.
"Where are you living while you're in this world?" Chihiro's qustion surprised Haku, and he had to think about it for a minute before shrugging. "No clue," he said.
Chihiro sighed and rolled her eyes. "My parents are working late, so you can come over after school and we can take the time to think about our...problem." Haku noticed how careful Chihiro was with her words around her fellow classmates. Haku nodded his agreement and then walked off to his next class. Chihiro watched the boy wistfully, wishing she had that period with him, but alas, she didn't.
After collecting her books from her locker, Chihiro stalked off to her next class. Haku had relayed the ever-so-important information to her in a manner that made her think like it wasn't as important as it sounded. How was a new owner of the bath house going to affect him? Haku was free from his bondage, wasn't he? Even though the others were being treated mercilessly, Haku should have been away from the bath house a long time ago.
He didn't have anywhere to goChihiro thought sadly as she walked through the classroom door. Chihiro didn't even notice who she sad down in front of when she took her seat, just before the bell rang.
"Hey, babe," a stunning slick voice said from behind her, making her jump. Unknowingly, Chihiro had unconsciously sat down in front of the school bully himself, Akito. "Why didn't you come to have lunch with me? I missed you, you know?"
Chihiro gave a quiet, mock laugh. "Yeah right. And for your information, I was having lunch with Haku. He's a much better lunch-partner than you could ever be!" Akito looked offended for a moment, but the teacher rapped her ruler on her desk, making Chihiro look back towards the front of the room.
"Alright then, class, let's open our school books to the poem we were reading yesterday. Can I please get someone to read the third line, and decipher its meaning? Ah, Ms. Chihiro, please?"
Chihiro blinked. She hadn't raised her hadn't to be called on. Oh, well. Reading the third line, Chihiro was puzzled. "And within his veins, the answer came, like a dog to its master."
"Hmm," the teacher said. "I don't think that's enough. Keep reading, please."
Chihiro didn't get the poem at all. "To trust, loyalty and love unwavering; that the two could get through together, as one droplet of blood, heading to the heart."
"Alright, Chihiro, what do you make of that exert?"
"I have no clue," Chihiro said flatly.
"Oh, come now," her teacher encouraged. "The author talks about two things getting along very well. They also talk about blood, and a heart. What could you infer about the two people?"
"I don't know," Chihiro mumbled. "It sort of sounds like the two people are in love, but I don't think a dog and a person would be in love," she said, refering to the example in the poem.
The teacher laughed. "No, that just shows that the people are very close, like a person and a dog that they have spent their whole life around and trust dearly. There are some people that are born blind, and use dogs that have been trained to help them manuever around in tight places. Imagine how helpless that person would feel if they were accidentally seperated from their dog?"
Chihiro thought hard. "So, two people who have to work together might have the possibilty of falling in love with them?"
The teacher smiled. "Yes, that's exactly it. Because, if you truly care about someone, and are willing to put yourself in harm's way for them, then you could truly love them in your heart."
Chihiro was silent for hte rest of the class period as she pondered the idea that had been planted in her head. She and Haku had wokred hard to free each other from the bath house, hadn't they? But, they hadn't fallen in love. Right? Chihiro didn't actually love Haku, did she? They were only friends, nothing more!
Or, were they?
Chihiro shook her head in fristration as the bell ring to let them out to their 4th period. Chihiro had gym, and she wasn't looking forward to running out in the cold, frigid air. Why did it seem to get colder during the middle of the day? Wasn't it normal for it to be colder at night and in the early morning?
Haku was already waiting at her locker for her. "I have gym, but I don't know where to go," he said simply as he moved aside for her to work on her combination.
"I'll take you there," she said. "It's odd how our schedules match up." Haku must have sensed Chihiro's troubles, because after the girl grabbed her gym bag, he pulled her over to an empty hallway and tilted her chin up so that he could get a better look at her.
"What's wrong? You aren't acting right," Haku told her. Chihiro only frowned. There was no way she was going to ask him whether they were in love or not. Still, his warm hands on her chilly face felt good, and instead of shaking them off, she only turned to go down the right hallway.
"Come on," she said softly, mad at herself for acting so selfish. "We still have to get changed for gym and stuff." Haku watched Chihiro's back for a moment before he followed after her. Now he had his own problems, and they involved finding out what was wrong with the girl.
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Chihiro's thoughts were blank as she led Haku out onto the track and, ultimately, the gym area. Pointing out the boys' locker room, she entered the girls' locker room and stepped past all the chatty girls to the locker she never used anyway. It had the same combo as her school locker, and Chihiro really only used it to keep her volleyball pads and her gym shoes inside, so that she could not forget them at home. She also kept a bottle of water that she refilled every day, and a small package of hairbands. It wasn't that she herself use the hairbands, because she still had the perfectly good one her Granny had made for her, but the other girls were always forgetting their own bands, so she let them borrow from her.
Chihiro opened her locker and pulled out her gym uniform. Without even thinking, she stripped and changed, quickly checking herself in the mirror before drinking from her water bottle, handing out the daily hairbands (they each had their own headbands, and just kept them in Chihiro's locker for safekeeping), and then she stepped outside.
Chihiro could already see that she was the first girl out. Most, if not all, of the boys were already out, passing balls back and forth, or just pleasantly chatting the way only guys can do. One guy stood out from the crowds, though. When Chihiro realized it was Haku, she immediately made her way over to him.
"Are you ready for pure torture?" she asked with a half smile. Haku looked down at her with puzzlement in his eyes. Chihiro laughed, and joked, "You'll see!"
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Yeah! LOL. My volleyball team keeps a package of socks in our locker room, because everyone always forgets to bring a pair! We even went as far as to write our names and stuff on the bottom, so that's where I got the idea! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it's somewhat long, (I think).
Plz review! I wuvvles all of you who review!
Oh, and you DEFINITELY want to read the next chapter! It's going to be VERY cute. So, put me on your alert list! Author alert would be smart, but if you only really care about Spirited Away, story alert is okay too!
