Here is chapter 4, I hope you like it. I suffered a slight case of writer's block around the middle, due to my excitment at getting my SA game started.

I dunno why, but I felt compelled to post this early... I tend to do that...

Anyway, enjoy and PLEASE review. I'll give you candies! -holds up bags of chocolates and hard candies-

Chapter Four: The Fire Spirit and The Cat


"I'm sorry Miss, but we just can't find any other clues as to where she went after that..."

Kenshin and Yukimi had called the police, when Chihiro still hadn't returned home. They had managed to find the kids who had attacked the girl, and they admitted to chasing her the day before, and they showed them where they had last seen Chihiro. They added in a somewhat scathing manner that while they had been following her, Chihiro had been laughing for no appearent reason, and even talking to herself now and then. The bravest hinted at Kenshin that Chihiro had gone back to where she belonged, with witches and demons. The older man was tempted to show the boy a demon, but resisted.

The last place Chihiro had been seen was entering the old Theme Park. The last evidence there was of her was at the end of the tunnel.

No more. No less. It was as if she had vanished.

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Chihiro woke once again to unfamiliar surroundings, and it took her a moment to register the fact that she wasn't home. When she tried to swing her legs off her bed, like she normally would have done, she found that she had only succeeded in getting a growl from the dragon who slept curled next to her, when her legs ended up being draped over his back. Blinking rapidly, and rubbing her eyes, Chihiro remembered where she was and why. With a tired groan, she slumped back into the blankets and pillows that made a bed in the boiler room. She reached over, grabbed one of the larger blankets, that sat in a stack near by, and spread it out, letting it fall over herself, and the dragon.

Haku, whom hadn't wanted to be woken up, after all, it wasn't even close to sunrise yet, opened one sleepy emerald eye, and peered at the girl, who was still trying to get comfortable. She finally settled for using his back as a pillow, and buried her face in his mane of green hair. With a rumbling sigh, Haku closed his eye, and drifted off to sleep, wondering if she would have used him as pillow in human form.

Kamaji didn't have the pleasure of sleeping until sunrise. There were customers to be served. What I wouldn't do for a good fire spirit to work here... He mentally grumbled, as he tried to get to sootballs to work again, without yelling at them, and waking the human and the dragon, At least a fire spirit could keep the flames going, without even trying... He sighed, and contiued to try and convey harsh language simply with hand gestures to get his helpers working, as they were too interested in playing with the tiny bird, whom had come to the boiler room with Sen, or, now that he had gone back to sleep, climbing on Haku, and playing with his hair, or pulling out a loose scale here and there.

He finally decided a threat would work best on them, "Get back to work, or no food!" He only raised his voice a little bit.

The balls of soot quickly resumed their work, not wanting to be deprived of their meals, when Lin came.

Lin came early that morning, and without their breakfast. Hope was no lost for them however, for she had come to wake up the dragon and the girl, which meant she might come back again later with food!

The girl, and the dragon, who reverted back to his human form, were none to happy about being dragged out of bed, but they followed like to the elevator, anyway.

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Chihiro and Haku stood before Zeniba, both still half asleep. Haku wondered if Chihiro wasn't fully asleep, as her eyes were closed, and she was swaying on her feet.He gave her a quick shove, to wake her up. She quickly straightened herself, and yawned widely.

She said something during the yawn that sounded like "hullo granny." But Haku wasn't quite sure, it was rather hard to understand.

"Good morning, Chihiro," the old witch replied, to Haku she said, "It looks like you got your wish, Child. Are you pleased?"

Haku purposefully added a yawn himself, so that he had a perfect excuse for not answering, before Chihiro managed a slurred, "why you get us up so early?"

"I suppose Boh told you that there was something coming?" at the teenagers' nods, she continued, "Well, there is, I'm just not sure what. But, it's nothing good, I assure you. There have been a few employees complaining about dreams, in which they see everything burning. Have either of you had a dream like this?"

Both girl and boy nodded again.

"Hmmm... seems it's not only spirits then... But it may be due to your prolonged time here..." Zeniba muttered to herself, shooing away the buzzing bird, who had come with Chihiro.

"Are you sure that they mean something is coming?" Haku asked, and Zeniba nodded.

"Yes. There are a few other signs as well... If only I could figure out when, and with what...or who."

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Haku lay on his back, staring up at the clouds, as they rolled by. Chihiro was still with Zeniba, going over the conditions on which she was allowed to stay. Working was one of the conditions. Everyone in the bath house had a job, that included Chihiro. A dragonfly buzzed around his head for a moment, and perched on his nose, flicking its wings. Haku couldn't help but smile, however the movement startled the insect, and sent it back about it's business, of searching for a meal. A shadow blocked the sun, suddenly, and Haku squinted to see who was looking down at him. Chihiro.

"I didn't expect you to be released so soon."

"Why?" The girl asked, sitting beside him, "All she was doing was telling me that I had to help Lin in the evenings."

"Would you like me to give Lin a personality adjustment then?"

"No, she's fine as is," said Chihiro, laying back on the grass, "I'm free for now, at least."

The two stayed there, in silence, simply enjoying eachother's presence, until finally Chihiro's stomach made the fact that it was hungry known. So, they got up, to go find something for lunch. On their way to the bathhouse, they bumped into a tall, thin, and somewhat sickly looking boy, who seemed quite lost. At first Chihiro didn't see anything overly strange about him, until she saw his eyes. Slit pupiled firey orange eyes, lined in red.

"Excuse me," he said, his voice was scratchy, as if his throat was too dry, and there was an amazing amount of heat emenating from him, "But could you tell me where might find the witch Zeniba?"

"She's in the bath house..." Haku answered uncertainly. Fire spirit... He thought, why's he here? They're not known for their friendliness... "Follow us..." Should I even be taking him up there? The fire from that dream... No. No reason to instantly shun him... He's just looking for Zeniba, that's all. Alot of spirits seek her out...
The walk back to the bathhouse was uncomfortably silent, as Chihiro wasn't quite sure what to say to the newcomer, and she was to busy trying to keep a safe distance from the heat to think about what to say. Haku was too lost in his own thoughts, and the fire spirit had nothing to say. His words were being reserved for the witch.

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Slightly confused, Haku and Chihiro made their way down to the kitchens. They had left the fire spirit, whom had said his name was Ryu, with Zeniba, who had acted as if she recognized him. She had shooed the girl and the dragon out of the her office afterward. Neither of them complained, as they were both too concerned with getting to the kitchens for some lunch.

"Boo!" said Lin, popping out of nowhere, after they had persuaded one of the toads to let them get some food, making Chihiro jump. All Lin got from Haku was a glare that said if she tried it again, she was dead. "I saw you two leadin' someone up here that I didn't recognize... who was it?"

"Said his name was Ryu," Chihiro answered.

"And he's here to speak with Zeniba," said Haku, "He's a fire spirit."

"Well what would he be doing here then?" Lin wondered aloud, "They aren't known for being that social..."

"I just told you," Haku began, "He's here-"

"To speak to Zeniba, I know..." Lin stopped him, with a wave of her hand, "I'm not deaf... I meant why would he need to see Zeniba?"

Seeing that she wasn't going to be included in the conversation concerning why Ryu was there, Chihiro went outside, to eat. As she did so, a small, but regal looking cat wandered up, and decided to take a nap next to her. From the look of things, the cat was a siamese. It was also purring as loud as a motorboat engine. Chihiro couldn't resist, she reached over intending to stroke the cat's fur, when one of it's amber eyes snapped open, and a cool, collected, smooth-as-silk female voice said, "No petting, please... I worked a long time to get my fur in perfect condition."

"Oh!" said Chihiro, shocked. I shouldn't be... there's walking sootballs, dragons, and human-sized frogs here... a talking cat is nothing. "I'm sorry... I didn't realize..."

"It's alright," said the cat, "You're not a spirit, so you couldn't have read my mind..." There was an air of superiority around the cat, which was no surprise to Chihiro, as from her experience, all cats thought greatly of themselves, and considered themselves the highest ranking creature around. Must be a god-complex left over from when they were worshipped... "My name is Kei," the cat continued, "And I'm guessing you're Master Haku's human..."

Chihiro hid a smile behind one hand, thinking of how she had always thought of Haku as "her dragon". She hadn't thought anyone would turn it around on her. "Yes," the girl replied, in a dead-serious tone, "I'm Chihiro."

The cat got to her feet, and stretched, yawning. "Pleased to meet you then, Chihiro. And good luck."

"Good luck?" Chihiro asked, confused, "What do I need good luck for?"

But Kei was already walking away, twitching her tail in the air, "You'll see," she said, leaving Chihiro feeling as though she'd missed something.

"Why am I not surprised?" she asked herself, "'No cat anywhere, ever gave anyone a straight answer' " she quoted, thinking it fit the situation.

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By sundown, Ryu was no longer in Zeniba's office. Instead, he was exploring the bathhouse, though he was having a hard time keeping out of the way, as this was the busiest time of the day. He saw the girl who had been with the dragon that morning, now dressed as all the other women there, as she prepared a bath. Everyone works in this bathhouse... He thought, watching her for a few moments. Of course, there was no work for him. Chances were he would get frustrated, and a frustrated or angry fire spirit wasn't something that anyone would want to be close too...

But it didn't matter, he wasn't here for work. He was here on another matter entirely.

Yubabba.

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"You're still a klutz," Lin laughed, when Chihiro tripped over the small frog whose name she could never remember.

"Am not," Chihiro countered, "He tripped me."

"Not on purpose," the frog retorted, and hopped away, calling out, "You just need to watch where you're going..."

Grumbling, Chihiro gathered the bath tokens that she had dropped, and scattered everywhere. Still chuckling, Lin helped her. After they had gathered them all, and taken them back to the front of the bathhouse, they went about possibly the worst job in the place. Cleaning out the baths. No...Chihiro thought, as she scrubbed the walls, That polluted river spirit was worse...Yech... She remembered the feeling of the slime dripping onto her hands, and the stench coming from it. Even worse was having to walk through the sludge. But, she had helped that spirit in the end, so it had been worth it... Or so she kept telling herself, whenever she thought about it, and got chills. Once the bath was clean, Chihiro was thoroughly drained of the desire to do anything except go to the boiler room, and sleep for several days. She hadn't worked that hard for that long in a while. As she climbed out of the bath, a hand appeared in her vision, to help her out. She took the hand, intending to see who it was when she was on solid floor, though she thought she already had a pretty good idea who it was, and she was right.

"You're welcome," said Haku, before she had time to thank him, "Kei tells me you tried to pet her earlier. Never a good thing... What did you think of her?"

"I thought she was a typical cat," Chihiro answered, with a small laugh, "high and mighty. Though she seemed nice enough... She said soemthing strange though. She told me 'good luck' but she wouldn't say why..."

"Kei is often like that. She claims she's able to see the future from time to time... I'd be inclined to believe her, if she says you'll need luck."

"I just hate not knowing what she means. Cryptic messages have never been my favorite things."

"With Kei, you get alot of cryptic things. And Riddles. She's a fan of riddles."

"Hmmm, I wonder if I could trick her with 'If you've got it, you want to share it, but if you share it you haven't got it' " Chihiro wondered, with a smirk.

"I tried that already," said Lin, climbing, unaided from the bath, "And she answered right away. She's as good as sphinx."

"Who is?" said that same same cool, collected voice Chihiro had heard earlier. The three of them turned. Kei was sitting in the doorway, washing a paw. "You know, it's really not nice to talk about people when they're not around."

"As if you couldn't hear us," said Lin, flicking a bit of dirty water, from one of the buckets, at the creature. Kei puffed up, hissed, and growled at the woman, pupils going as thin as they possibly could. She looked for a moment as if she might assault Lin, but instead, she stalked off, fluffed-out tail stuck straight and stiff in the air. A low chuckled followed her, and Ryu stepped into veiw.

"Just a like a cat," he said in that dry-sounding voice of his. "I haven't met one yet that won't just walk away after a good dose of water... I don't think I properly introduced myself earlier. I'm Ryu."

"Lin," said Lin, with a wave.

"Kohaku," said Haku, with a half-bow.

"And you're Chihiro," Ryu said, before Chihiro could tell him her name. He came forward, and took her hand. His skin was exetremely hot to the touch. He brought her fingers to his lips, "Zeniba told me who you were when I asked. It's an honor to meet a lovely girl such as yourself."

Chihiro felt herself blush at his flattery, and blush even more when she saw Haku's jealous glare at the spirit.

Fire and Water... She thought, later, as she and Haku went to the boiler room, Just don't mix.

Life here was going to get pretty interesting. That much she could tell.