A Different Current of the River
Chapter 7: To Depart and Explore
By LadyRainStarDragon
Disclaimer: Miyazaki owns Spirited Away.
To ease any river kami related confusion:
Haku- Nigihayami Kohakunushi's Aramitama (translates rough spirit), currently checking out Aburaya. Haku means white when written one way, but can mean fade when written another. This aspect can also be referred to as Kohaku. Kohaku written one way can mean amber, written another way it is small and white/fade.
Nushi- Nigihayami Kohakunushi's Nigimitama (translates gentle spirit), currently still at the Kohakugawa. Nushi means master or lord.
Nigihayami Kohakunushi- Kohaku's proper name according to the Japanese version, also used when in trouble or when functioning in official capacity, and can be shortened to simply Kohakunushi.
Nigihayami- family name. Swift flowing is a possible translation. Sadly, Tea with the White Dragon is no longer in existence, it had a wonderful article on the translation of the whole name.
A gi is one word for a uniform.
Nushi kneeled on a thick cushion, the polished pine boards of his mansion all about him reflecting back the warm glow of the lamps. Before him was his ceremonial kagami, the mirror that he used to check on his charge from time to time when he was too busy with affairs to visit her. His long hair shaded his face as he looked down, unable to watch.
"Nushi, are you going to be alright?"
Ten looked over from his own cushion, unable to tell by sight if the other water kami was already mourning the loss of his treasured priestess or if he had merely fallen asleep. The smell of agitation was thick in the air though.
"I'll be fine."
Ten raised an eyebrow, but turned back to the mirror, watching as the girl got into the car, biting a lip at how empty her eyes were, and how she sagged.
"You know, Aburaya isn't all that far from where she is going. It wouldn't take much to go and see her since your father has ordered you to take a vacation."
"I've already thought of that."
"And?"
"What good would it do? It would just hurt her more."
"You mean you think you'd go nuts and kidnap her."
"My aramitama already thinks that she belongs to him and is waiting for her to come of age."
The door of the car in the mirror shut audibly, and Chihiro's face could be seen gazing forlornly toward the river as tears began to carve paths down her cheeks. Ten inhaled sharply.
"You're usually really good at waiting for things. What makes you so certain you'd go nuts."
"I'm already gone."
Ten dropped the tea he had been about to sip, the clear liquid forming a puddle on the floor that was quickly whisked away as the river weeds danced outside the windows.
"Haku isn't with you? That's why I've been calling you just Nushi again? When did you figure this out?"
The car pulled out of the driveway and left for the Ogino family's new home. The mirror followed it's progress while Nushi gazed blankly back into it.
"Shortly after we returned Chihiro to that ungrateful thing that was once my friend. I had noticed that my mind was unusually quiet and investigated myself to determine why. He had been gone for a while."
"So he's been running around out there for a little over a week. Ryujin's whiskers! Who knows what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into, and this explains why you've not been able to have any violent actions. For all we know, he could be hoarding her clothes and rolling in them nightly! The horror!"
Nushi's gaze snapped to Ten, who was now feigning horror very badly, holding his cheeks with his mouth wide open. Nushi bopped him after taking a moment to collect himself.
"Roll in them? That's not funny, and why would he hoard her clothes?"
"Because they SMELL like her! I've seen how deep even you breathe around her."
". . . You are a pervert."
"Hmph. So are you. You've just never been interested in anyone to get in touch with it. You're doomed when she gets older."
"There is nothing saying that we will ever wed Ten. She is human, remember? Lots of trouble for her."
"So what? If she is the girl of your mother's prophecy you are meant to be, whether it creeps you out or not. Besides, Haku know where she is moving to, and has probably even already checked out the exact house. There is no way he'll give her up. He very well might just kidnap her, you've said many times yourself that he doesn't always control his impulses well. I'll bet he even synchronized his apparent age with hers, which is something you would have been well advised to do."
"This is just going to turn into one of those conversations where you try to goad me into doing something I think is stupid."
"No, what's stupid is having given her back when you already knew they were moving."
Nushi glared at his friend.
"I don't need a priestess, and she needs to live a normal life."
"What happens when Koji dies and you have no priest?"
"I had no priest for a very long time before the humans even came here if you will remember, and you've never had one. I don't think it will affect me."
Nushi pointed, and the image of the face tearing his heart apart vanished from the mirror. Removing it from the stand he wrapped it in a blue cloth and carefully tucked the apparatus into his obi.
"It is time for me to leave. Try not to drown the fish, and no floods."
Ten watched as his friend glided across the floor, leaving him alone in the river lord's office.
"No floods? Now, would I do a thing like that? Does he think I'm still 200?"
Haku laid on the plush futon, picking at a loose thread in the silver silk that was part of his quilt. His other half, Nushi, had figured out days ago that he had split off and taken matters into his own hands. Yet, Nushi had not come to drag him home. That meant one or both of two things; he was actually being given permission to keep an eye on Chihiro and protect her from the dangers of the area, or Nushi was so heartbroken over thinking that he had to give Chihiro up that he wasn't thinking straight at all. Haku thought it was most likely both.
His emerald eyes narrowed as he listened to the other guests in the other rooms sleep. None had recognized him as a dragon, and none had recognized him as the young but powerful river spirit that he was. The disguise was working well so far, at least until some relative, member of the Dragon Council, or Kawagami himself came. If any of those happened, he would most definitely be caught and questioned as to why he would want to look like a child again when he had been so happy to have gained both his horns and appearance of manhood.
Finally he was certain that the others were sleeping soundly. Flowing gently, he rose and moved to the shoji, sliding it open and stepping stealthily into the hall. Haku willed his footsteps to be silent, nearly floating as he walked, creeping and yet still acting as if it were completely normal for him to be prowling the halls while the sun was up.
Eschewing the elevator at the end of the hall, he found the servant's stairs and descended cautiously, stepping just so in order that he would not trip on the hem of his hakama and tumble down the steep incline. Even spirits could die if they broke their necks.
Haku had become familiar with the servant passages, and like he had assumed at first, they were worn down and dangerous. Loose boards were his footing, and the bare bulbs were dim here. His eyes wandered, scanning everything, soaking up every bit of information that they could. Out of the stairwell now, he navigated the halls to the servant's quarters.
The spirits slept soundly as he checked on them, noting their health on instinct. The futons were old and thin, little more than cloth it appeared, and would not do anything to warm a spirit on a cold winter night, much less a human during a hot summer. Some had the familiar facial creases of chronic exhaustion, others cried without a noise as they slept. The most worrisome were the ones that didn't move, barely even breathing, so far gone in depression and whatever the spells were that the witch used to control her slaves that the only thing keeping them going were half-memories glimpsed in dreams.
Haku slid the shoji shut for the female workers.
A slender hand covered his, and a tall commanding presence was felt now behind him.
"I'm sorry sir, but guests aren't allowed here. Let me show you to your room, since I know you must be lost."
The female voice had a hard and ungiving edge, the owner not fooled one bit.
"Very good weasel-woman. Not many are able to hide scent and presence from me."
"Hmph. This way."
The presence backed up and uncovered his hand, taking a step aside. Turning around, Haku saw the slender itachi-onna that had been watching him so closely during his stay. Her long earthy hair hung behind her, secured at mid-back with a single tie, and her orange bath-worker uniform might as well have been a martial arts gi. Her stance was that of a warrior, and sharp eyes assessed the youth before her.
"You are older than you look dragon."
Haku smiled softly.
"What makes you say so, or so sure that I am a dragon?"
"You can't hide your eyes. They speak too much to be those of a youth, and they have qualities that only dragons have."
She began walking down the corridor, taking him a different way than that which he had followed here. After a distance, she turned into a storage room and shut the shoji behind them.
"Are you a spy for Zeniba?"
Haku's eyebrow raised in confusion. The woman's eyes closed, then opened.
"I was hoping you were with how closely you have been observing us, and even coming down here. I saw how sad you looked watching the others sleep."
"My business here is my own. It is best that I don't reveal it."
"Very well. Nothing is ever as it seems here. Don't forget who you are if you go to see Yubaba. Remember that. The boiler is hot, and rumor has it that she has noticed you."
Haku nodded, understanding who the message was really coming from. The woman slid the door open again, checking that the hall was clear before stepping out. He followed, whispering his question.
"Who are you? You don't seem like you should be scrubbing tubs."
The itachi-onna smiled, her eyes looking far away for a moment.
"I don't know who I am anymore, although I remember parts of what I was. You can call me Lin, that's the name that she left me."
"You can call me Haku."
"Short name for a noble."
They walked in silence to his room, taking a sturdier and yet just as hidden route back to the floor his room was on. Opening the door at the top of the stairwell, the hinges were found to be rather well-oiled. As promised, she led him directly to his room, where she left him with a curt bow.
Haku quietly re-entered his room, shutting the shoji before opening the large window and leaning out into the breeze.
"Perhaps I should find out about this Zeniba woman for myself. I remember father telling me once that she lived in Swamp Bottom, but nothing else."
Throwing himself out the window, he took his dragon form and caught the back of the air currents, turning for the direction where his mental map told him the swamp was.