Meh, I cannot seem to focus at all. So, if this chater seems weird BLAME FANFICTION! It kept me up last night...right? I think. Can't really remember, I was half-asleep. Too much reading, not enough writing.

Me no owney. TT

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Chihiro thumped her head against the lunch table. Letting out a sigh that none of her friends noticed, the girl thought back and wondered how she had even gotten to the lunch room. There she was, walking serenely to the roof steps, when she felt two arms hook her and pull her into the hallway traffic.

Glancing around, Chihiro noted that none of her friends were even paying attention to her. She was more like a little ornament at their table; there to please the eye, but never to be heard from.

When absolutely no one was looking, Chihiro stood up discreetly and snuck over to the lunch room door. Opening it with as little sound as possible, she slipped through and made her way down the empty hallways. Gosh, her friends could actually get on her nerves some times! As Chihiro climbed the steps to the roof, she chuckled lightly at all the times she had been kidnapped by her friends.

Opening the door to the roof, Chihiro poked her head outside. A boy with shoulder-length black hair was standing near the railing, looking out over the condos in the valley below him. Haku obviously hadn't heard her, so Chihiro snuck over on tiptoes, fully intending to surprise the boy, but she stopped midstep when she heard a muttered name.

"Chihiro," the distracted teen mumbled under his breath. "What have I gotten you into? Maybe I shouldn't have come here after all. I suppose the bath house with just have to suffer--"

Haku stopped his one-sided conversation when he felt two small arms twist their way under his and clasp in front of his stomach. A small face buried into his back, and he could hear small sniffling noises coming from behind him.

"H-Haku, y-you can't j-just give up!" Chihiro cried. Haku realized she had heard his muttering. She pulled the dragonboy closer and cried into the back of his uniform. Why had Haku even been thinking about giving up? "We'll find a plan! We have to! We can't just let the bath house suffer! What about Lin, and Kamaji, and Boh! They're all hoping that you'll come back with help! We can't let them down!"

"Actually, Chihiro," Haku said, his voice a tad colder than usual, "All of those people...think that I'm dead."

"W-what?!"

Haku turned around and embraced Chihiro, letting her cry into his uniform. "Before I left, there had been a rumor spreading around that I had started. I purposefully wanted people to think of me as dead, so I let a few of the girls overhear a heated conversation I had with Kosuke one evening. They all thought that Kosuke had been threatening me, and in a way, he had been. So, right before I decided to leave, I staged a scene, with the help of a few of the angered spirits, and left making sure everyone knew the lie."

"Angered spirits?" Chihiro asked, her crying slowing down now that she knew part of the truth.

"Many of the spirits had enjoyed staying at Yubaba's bath house, but when Kosuke took over, he changed several things. Not to mention he treated the workers horribly, right in front of the spirits. At least Yubaba was a little more subtle. So, the spirits that did not enjoy the new bath house helped me to stage a scene, encouraging me to rid the bath house of Kosuke and get a new, more proper and fitting owner."

"So, you have a lot of support, don't you?" Chihiro asked, smiling a little. Haku nodded, and Chihiro hugged him tightly once more. "Haku, I want you to know that I am supporting you all the way! I really want you to help the bath house, and I'll do anything I can to help! Really! I'd do anything!" A few more tears slid down Chihiro's cheek, and Haku brushed them away with his thumb.

"Chihiro, there might come a time when I have to go back to the Spirit World, and when I do, I don't want you to worry. I don't know if I'll be able to tell you when, but if I disappear for a while, don't be afraid. Be the brave Chihiro I know," Haku said, looking Chihiro sternly in the eyes.

Chihiro nodded, and Haku's eyes softened. After a small moment, Haku leaned down and kissed Chihiro on the forehead, wrapping her in another tight hug before the school bell rang. Chihiro was dazed; even if the kiss had only been on the forehead, it still had a lot of impact on her. Then the full meaning of Haku's words hit her. Crying out, she asked the leaving boy, "Haku, what did you mean by, "I don't know if I'll be able to tell you when,"? I need to know, so that I can make a coverup for my absence."

Haku looked over his shoulder at Chihiro. She looked so beautiful standing there, the trees and a bright blue sky as her background, her chocolate brown hair twisting and twirling in the wind. Haku's heart broke when he saw the deifant look on the girl's face. She was going to argue with him on his decision, and she knew as well as he did that he couldn't say no. "I'm not taking you with me to the Spirit World. I'd ki--" Haku stopped short of saying "kill myself", so instead he just sighed and said, "I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you. It's too dangerous there, and I don't want you to go."

Chihiro frowned, and mentally steeled herself to stop the barrage of tears that threatened to come falling down. "I want to go with you though! I want to support you, and I can't do that if you're in a totally different world!"

Haku turned and took a few steps to Chihiro, who had succumbed to the tears. Her head was facing the ground, but she felt a soft hand pull her chin up, and found a pair of lips on her own. "Chihiro," Haku mumbled into the kiss, "I told you, I'd rather die than have you hurt."

Chihiro's crying intensified, and she threw her arms around Haku's neck. Haku held the crying girl, but after half a minute of crying, he pulled away and stated, "We're going to be late." As if to prove his point, the bell rung a few seconds later.

---TT---

Chihiro and Haku had pretty much avoided each other the next few periods, much to Chihiro's dissatisfaction. The girl had been moody and withdrawn, so much so that her friends had confronted her about it some times during one of the class periods.

"Chihiro, really, stop thinking about him!" Yuri, a small blonde-haired girl, whispered, sitting gracefully in the seat directly in front of Chihiro's. The teacher had finished the lesson early, and - being the nice teacher that he was - had allowed the students to move around and speak with their friends.

"Yeah, just forget about him! Why are you so hung up over him anyway?" Yoko asked. She was usually quiet and serene, but was quite inquisitive when provoked. Especially when it was her friends she was asking questions about. Yoko flipped back her brown hair and sat at the edge of Chihiro's desk, waiting expectantly for a satisfactory answer.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Chihiro mumbled. Her feelings were still sore, and right now talking with her friends didn't seem too appealing.

"Listen, Chihiro, if you don't tell us, we'll follow you home and ask your mom! You usually tell your mom everything, don't you? So she should know who you like!" Yuri said with a small laugh, the tease in her eyes clearly evident.

Chihiro frowned, and then panicked. Her friends couldn't follow her home! If they went up to her room they would see the extra futon and would question why it was there, and then Chihiro would have to make up more lies to cover Haku's residence at her house. And what would Haku do while her friends were there? Where could he go? "Um, fine! I'll tell you! But, how did you know I was crushing?" Chihiro asked, to buy some more time as she tried to think up a guy's name.

"Well, we couldn't think of anything else it could be. You always get decent grades, so it couldn't be homework and stuff, and we know your parents get along like bees and honey, so they couldn't have gotten in a fight,and if they did you would have told us. We figured the one thing friends are hesitant to tell each other are their crushes, so we're forcing yours out of you!" Yuri smiled a big grin, and Yoko nodded her head to agree.

"So, who is it?" Yuri asked, poking Chihiro lightly on the arm to get a response.

Chihiro quickly glanced at Haku, who was sitting in his seat, staring out the window as usual. Then another male walked up to Haku. "Akito?" Chihiro whispered quickly, in surprise.

"Akito?" Yoko questioned, looking at Yuri and then back to Chihiro. "Chihiro, do you really like Akito? Isn't he the one that usually bullies you around?"

Chihiro chuckled nervously. "Yeah, well, love blossoms under strange circumstances!" Just like with me and Haku.

"There's no way you can like that doofus!" Yuri squealed, not believing Chihiro's lie. Chiihro pretended to look a little hurt by her "crush's" insult, but she didn't really put that much effort into the act. Yuri was right, she didn't - and never would - have a crush on Akito.

"Why don't you prove you have a crush on him?" Yoko asked, her voice quiet in comparison to Yuri's squeal. "Go up and talk to him. We'll watch for back here." Yuri's eyes brightened at the prospect, and she pulled Chiihro out of her seat from the collar of her shirt. Chihiro struggled, but she knew it was pointless. Yuri was the best female tai-kwan-do artist in the school, and she was captain of the team.

Chihiro felt herself being pushed into the general direction of Haku and Akito, and she started stuttering nonsense. "B-but, I c-can't...not now! Come on, p-please? Oi! S-stop pushing me!"

Yuri snickered and left an embarassed Chihiro in front of two speechless boys. Both had noticed the girls approaching, and had watched silently. "Hey Chihiro," Akito finally greeted, putting an arm on the girl's shoulder. He watched as she jerked away from his touch, and then turned a shade darker in the face. The male then put an arm around her shoulders and smirked at Haku, who had "murderous intent" written all over his face.

"Um, hi...Akito," Chihiro mumbled. "Um, what were you two talking about?"

"You, actually," Haku cut in. His face was once again stoic, the murderous intent still lingering in the air around him.

"W-what about me?" Chihiro stuttered, surprised by Haku's reply.

"How cute you are," Akito breathed into her ear. Chihiro jumped, tense and looking like a frightened animal. She was frantic, and desperately wanted to get away from Akito's grasp. But she could feel Yoko's and Yuri's eyes on her back, and knew she would look suspicious if she moved away from a loving embrace. If you could call it a loving embrace.

When he touches me, my heart doesn't race as much as it does when Haku touches me. His hugs, his arms around me...they mean nothing unless they come from Haku. Chihiro shook the thought out of her head, and looked down at the floor.

"That's not what you were really talking about, were you?" she asked softly, half hoping they would both laugh and tell her they were kidding. But the other half of her wanted to know what Haku thought about her cuteness. Wait, was she even cute at all?

"Not really, well, not in a direct way, anyway. Actually, to be specific, we were talking about the survival training, and who we want to be paired with. Today is the day we get paired up in our tents, so we should really be thinking about who we want to be with," Akito explained. Chihiro was relieved, but wondered how the subject had wandered to her at all.

"Oh, that's right, we had to hand in our permission slips today." Chihiro laughed lightly at the begging and pleaing she had had to do for her mom to sign her slip. Not only hers, but Haku's as well, using the excuse of, "His father is away and the slips are due today, so he has no one to sign it for him!" Her mother had finally resigned, muttering something about being late to work. Haku must have been remembering the same thing, because he had a know-it-all look on his face and was also chuckling.

"So, Chihiro, who do you want to be with?" Akito asked, his voice seductive and equivalent to a purr.

"O-oh, probably my friends, Yoko and Yuri, and maybe a few other people..." Chihiro stuttered. "I'm fine with just about anyone," she finished, giving a meaning glance to both of the males.

"Great! So, wanna share a tent?" Akito asked, dropping his face down to Chihiro's level. He had to lean very far because he was so much taller than her. Chihiro glanced at Haku, almost asking for his permission, and she barely missed the scowl that appeared on his face.

"Um, I guess, if our teachers will let us...but Haku has to be there too!" Chihiro had to fight the urge to clasp her hand over her mouth after she added the last unplanned part of her reply. Haku blinked a few times, the shocked expression still lingering on his face. Akito frowned, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration, as though he were trying to think up a good reason for Haku not to be in the tent with them. Finding none that would completely satisfy, he sighed and shrugged, resigning to the request.

Chihiro nodded, satisfied. Just then the bell rang, and the students hustled to get to their next class. Chihiro and Haku walked next to each other, hands brushing as the two temporarily forgot their earlier conversation. Looks like there are times of peace even in storms...

-----storm-----

Haha, yeah, I know. I've been slacking! Don't hurt me, kay? My gram is really annoying me right now, and it is so hard to get anything done. She thinks I'm actually listening to her when she speaks to me! How funny is that? XD