Hello my fellow…living…beings. I am back! Mwahahahaha! Lol.

I am soooo glad so many of you like my story! It's thanks to you guys that I decided to update this again! And thank you to all that reviewed! You guys were the deciding factor in that! And thanks to you guys, this story is competing with my IY story, Lunar Destiny, for most popular story! (based on how many people have them on their favorite and alert lists)

Review Responses (only two since there were only two anon. reviews):

Sakimi: Yep, you are right! He does appear in this chapter! Gracias por tu review! (I have no idea how to say review in Spanish and I am too lazy to look it up or ask my dad…)

Jrm360: I wrote some more! Yay! I did something for once! Lol. . Thanks for reviewing!

Now for the Disclaimer/crickets chirp/snoring commences/

/sniff/…WAHHHHHHHHH! Why? Why do you torture me/Goes off running and sobbing about mean lawyers/

Akane: O…k…/blinks/ Well, anyways, she doesn't own Spirited Away.

Chapter 3

The soft, milky light of the moon filtered through Chihiro's bedroom window. A soft breeze blew through and Chihiro's head shot over to the window. It was still closed—her door was even shut; in fact, every door—including her closet and bathroom doors—were silently resting in their hinges. Chihiro tensed. Where had that breeze come from?

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Chihiro woke the next morning to the irritating buzzing of her alarm clock and hastily ceased the cacophony with the push of a button. Groaning, she stretched her arms and legs before turning over to a more comfortable position. She reassured herself that she was just going to rest her eyes for a few minutes. Then she felt that breeze again and she shot up in bed, breathing already ragged. Her window was still shut and all doors were unmoving. Was this someone's idea of a joke?

Chihiro hesitantly got out of bed and began dressing herself for school, her mind on full alert. She was unusually conscious of every shadow in her room and she tensed at even the slightest movement not coming from her. Thankfully, no other unusual incidents occurred and Chihiro made her way downstairs for breakfast.

"Hey, sweetie!" her dad greeted and gave her a big bear hug.

"Hi, Otousan!" Chihiro laughed. She didn't want her parents to worry more about her, especially after yesterday.

"Well, you certainly seem to be in a better mood, Chihiro," her mom commented and smiled, which Chihiro returned.

"What's for breakfast? I'm starving!" Chihiro asked.

"Relax; here you go, honey," her mom set a plate of leftovers from the night before in front of her. Its sweet aroma assaulted her nose, only succeeding in making her mouth water.

"Mmm, this looks great!" Chihiro grinned and dug hungrily into her food. Her father and mother blinked, slightly disgusted at their daughter's hunger.

"Done!" Five minutes later Chihiro had literally licked her plate clean and was ready to go out the door to school.

"You weren't hungry, were you?" her dad joked.

"Nope!" she answered and gave both her parents a hug goodbye. "See you later. And thanks for the food, Okaasan!"

The Oginos were still staring at their daughter as she left in unusually high spirits.

"What's got her in such a good mood, do you think?" her mother asked.

"I'm not sure, but who cares! She's happy, after she was all dismal yesterday!" Mr. Ogino replied and gathered his things. "Well, I'm off to work. See you tonight, honey," he kissed his wife goodbye and headed out the door.

Mrs. Ogino was still skeptical despite her husband's thoughts. Something about her daughter's demeanor yesterday and how totally opposite it was today just didn't seem right. Slightly worried, Mrs. Ogino tried to busy herself with chores to take her mind off her daughter's sudden change in mood. You never know—it could be just teenage hormones, after all.

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Chihiro's happy mood had worn down drastically as she passed by the Kohaku River. Last night's events resurfaced to her mind—her birthday wish, the strange occurrences in the morning, and the strange gust of wind. Once again she found herself pondering the paranormal (at least that's what she considered it) activity in her room. Her room might be haunted for all she knew. However, something told her it was not a ghost last night she felt, and that everything was not just a coincidence.

Her walk to school was typical: cross through the nearby forest and follow the turnpike down the sidewalk. It only took her twenty minutes max to walk there if she was really taking her sweet time to stop and smell the roses. Today just happened to be one of those days and she was actually almost late for school for once.

Chihiro raced into the classroom and plopped in her seat just as the bell rang.

"Almost late again!" Sakana laughed.

"Oh, shut up, already," Chihiro countered.

"Were you sight-seeing again?" Akane asked. That's what they called her little daydreaming visits by the river. Chihiro would spend hours at a time sitting on the riverbank, just staying up at the sky and remembering old times.

"Maybe…" Chihiro gazed around the room innocently, making her friends giggle.

"Everyone take out a pencil or pen for a pop quiz on the Shinsengumi," the sensei greeted so enthusiastically. All of the class groaned and whined. When the sensei made no move to acknowledge their protest, the students reluctantly took out their writing utensil.

The sensei handed Chihiro her quiz which she immediately began to take.

List the officers of the Shinsengumi. (The order does not matter) Chihiro read the first question to herself and sighed inwardly in relief. She had been unusually interested in the Shinsengumi when they had begun to read about its history, and was glad these were common-sense questions.

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A/N: Yeah, I'm just a little obsessed with the subject of the Shinsengumi…blame Peacemaker Kurogane, Rurouni Kenshin, and Kaze Hikaru for that.

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As Chihiro breezed through the questions, she noticed Sakana trying to get her attention and lean over her shoulder. She finished the last question and turned to her friend with a questioning look. Sakana replied with a sheepish grin and held up four fingers. Chihiro looked back down at her paper.

How many commanders did the Shinsengumi have at first? List their names.

Chihiro looked back at her friend. Her pleading look was so lethal, she imagined even Yubaba would have given in to her. Sighing, she held up three fingers in response to Sakana's question. She smiled, mouthed "Arigatou!", and returned to her quiz. Chihiro heard a cough next to her and turned around. Akane was giving her the same skeptical look, which Chihiro returned with a grin. Akane sighed and shook her head disapprovingly and returned to scribbling down her answers.

"Time's up," the sensei announced five minutes before the bell. He walked around and collected everyone's papers and set them in a neat pile on his neat desk. Once he sat down, Akane turned to her friends.

"Why did you let her cheat, Chihiro?" she whispered.

"I didn't give her the whole answer; I just told her half of it," Chihiro defended.

"But that still counts as cheating!" Akane replied.

"Relax, Akane; It was just one question," Sakana interrupted with a smile. Akane threw her hands up in defeat. There was really no point in arguing the fact. She had learned that from the five years she had known Chihiro.

The rest of the day passed by in unusual ease for Chihiro: Algebra 2-easy; Japanese: even easier; Biology: She watched a cool video; and in English, they got some free time to talk with their friends ("But only in English!"). Chihiro was in an ecstatic mood by the time school had ended for the day.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, I didn't realize you loved school that much," Sakana rolled her eyes.

"Today feels like something special is going to happen! It's been so easy today, it feels like I've done nothing the whole day!" Chihiro cheered. She began to skip a few steps, her long, auburn hair swishing across her back.

Squeals and whispers from many girls halted her fun. Chihiro turned towards the source of the noise. She cocked an eyebrow. All of the girls created a circle around on entrance to the school, whispering to each other.

"What's up with them?" Akane asked.

"I bet they are planning to take over the world with monkeys and bendy straws and then turn the rest of us into slaves for their little minions and work us till we take our last breath," Sakana explained in one breath. Chihiro and Akane stared at their friend. "What? It's true."

Before Chihiro could answer her friend, a sudden hush spread over the conglomerated girls.

"Wow, he's really cute," Chihiro heard one whisper.

"But he has funky clothes. Is he a foreigner?" Another asked.

"Who cares? He's hot." Another answered.

The three girls exchanged glances and decided to investigate. Chihiro tried desperately to see above the heads of the towering girls, but, alas, she was still too short.

"…it sucks being short," Chihiro muttered.

"Hey, you are the tallest one in our group! What do you mean you're short!" Sakana complained.

Just as Chihiro was about to retort, the girls nearest them let out a high-pitched squeal of delight. The three girls stared at them, wondering just what was going on in there.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice called from in front of the girls. Chihiro could just make out the top of the person's flat head which was covered with pale brown hair. Reluctantly, the girls parted, all the while ogling at him. As the girls parted, Chihiro's heart began to race wildly. Her eyes widened to inhuman proportions and she began to shake. Her mind was telling her to flee, to run from this familiar acquaintance, but her legs didn't seem to want to listen today and she remained, paralyzed with surprise on the spot.

A/N: . I got this chapter in! I hope you guys like it! I was encouraged to update thanks to some wonderful reviews, but this still might remain as a sort of second priority after my other stories. If I get more reviews like I had been getting, then this story might just move up on "The List of Priority".

Ok, in the last chapter I was comparing Kaze in FF: U to a person from Pretear. Well, I wasn't paying attention and put "Him" instead of the actual person's name. The guy I was comparing Kaze to, ironically, was Hayate. (He controls wind, and "kaze" means wind, and their personalities are very similar…yeah you get it)

Anyways, I read through the story again and found a million and one mistakes other than that, so I'll be sure to repost the chapters. So if you see that I updated this story but it's just a replacement chapter of the first two, you don't have to review or read or anything.