…I'm soooooooo sorry guys! I haven't been a very good author have I? I don't deserve your kindness or reviews! I don't deserve to live after I have made you all wait so long! Please forgive me!
I am terribly sorry. But I did tell you I have no idea what should happen now. I know what I want to happen; just don't know how to get there. And I had finals and a big project and marching band camp for the first time! I'M SOOOOOOOOOOO SORRY! PLEASE FORGIVE ME! But I'm done with school now! But next year is my first year of high school. Joy. Freshman year.
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…wait a minute. I have no anon. reviews! That's cool!
Chapter 8
"Chihiro?" Chihiro heard a voice penetrate her dreams. Soon her mind awoke, but she kept her eyes tightly shut in the hope that whoever had disturbed her would leave her in peace.
"Chihiro? Come on, wake up! Lin already left!" A second voice commanded. Chihiro groaned and turned over in her small bed.
The room became silence and Chihiro smiled. Those annoying voices had stopped pestering her. She allowed her mind to drift back into slumber, sighing in pleasure.
Chihiro felt a pang of icy coldness on her back and yelped.
"Shh, you'll wake everyone up," Akane scolded, however laughing.
Chihiro glared at her, panting. She gingerly rubbed her back, feeling that parts of it were slightly wet. She brought her hand up to her face, smelled it, and then licked it.
"Aw, the poor little puppy was scared," Sakana cooed, and then burst into laughter. Chihiro noticed in one hand she held a tiny ice cube that was melting in her hands quickly.
"You know, you didn't have to use that," Chihiro sighed as she fixed her beddings. Well, the closet thing you could call a blanket and pillow on the floor, anyways. "And, I'm not a dog."
"Well, you sniffed and licked your hand, didn't you?" Sakana argued. Chihiro chose to ignore her friend, biting back her remark. Sakana grinned.
Chihiro added some finishing touches on her "bed" (folding over the tip of the blanket and fluffing the pillow) and stood back proudly to admire her work. With a smile, she turned to her friends.
"Oh, Kami!" Chihiro gasped. "What time is it?" Chihiro gazed out the open door behind Sakana and Akane. The sun barely shone over the horizon, its bright orange beams spreading in rays over the sea outside. Though the sunrise was a beautiful spectacle to behold, Chihiro just couldn't comprehend on how her friends seemed so wide-awake at this early hour.
"Our watches stopped working, so…" Akane broke off, noticing something strange. Sakana voiced her thoughts.
"Hey, there wasn't a sea out there before, was there?"
It had seemed so natural to Chihiro that she had forgotten to tell them what happens when you stay in the spirit world.
"Oh, sorry, I guess I forgot to tell you, but if you are caught here at night, then the land turns into a sea, and you can't get out," Chihiro explained. "It's sort of like a binding spell, I guess."
But Chihiro was still worried. The sea didn't look so peaceful and crystal clear as she remembered. It looked murky, and the seas were rough. It seemed to Chihiro that all kinds of…unearthly things could live there.
"Is it supposed to look so…disgusting?" Akane asked.
"No. It must be the Chimimouryou's doing," Chihiro said. "I remember it as being a vast body of water that looked so refreshing; and it probably was."
"Man, these demons have no taste. The least they could have done if they wanted to make everything look evil is to turn the water orange or pink." Sakana shook her head disapprovingly.
Akane and Chihiro stared at their friend, blinking confusedly.
Sakana looked back and forth between her friends. Seeing as they weren't, she became confused. "What? It was a joke!"
"This isn't exactly the time to be joking, Sakana," Akane scolded.
Sakana's face fell, and she looked away to the floor.
A distinctive growl emitted from Sakana's stomach. She laughed sheepishly with a silly grin on her face.
"Anyone hungry?"
The three girls were dressed and out of their room in five minutes. Chihiro had found them some fitting dark purple working robes similar to the pink ones she had worn before. However, these seemed heavier and more constricting. Chihiro couldn't feel the light breeze around her legs. As an added precaution, however, Chihiro made them all an instant hood to cover their heads so no one would hopefully recognize them. Hopefully.
"Chihiro, why do we have to where these ugly things?" Sakana whined, tugging on her bonnet-like hood. "I look like a pretty school girl!"
"Shut up!" Chihiro warned, barely above a whisper. "I don't like it either, but we have to where these if we don't want to get caught."
Chihiro quickly took the next corner down the hall, almost running into one of the pig-faced female workers. Her heart raced, and she quickly bent her head down as low as she could.
"S-sorry," Chihiro said, trying to disguise her voice. She slowly edged her way around the woman, motioning for her friends to do the same.
Sakana and Akane quickly murmured an apology as well and followed Chihiro, heads bent low in the same fashion.
Chihiro gazed at the woman out of the corner of her eye. The woman did the same, giving the girls a suspicious gaze as she rounded the corner.
"I think she suspects something," Akane said.
"Yeah, three girls walking around almost completely covered from head to toe in dark clothing is definitely not suspicious," Sakana remarked with a seemingly serious expression.
Chihiro stopped in front of the familiar elevator and pressed the button to call it to their floor. Akane and Sakana waited on either side of her, glancing around nervously.
"Sakana, can't you keep that thing quiet?" Akane asked as Sakana's stomach let out a dull growl of hunger.
"I'm sorry! I can't control it! It ignores anything I say," Sakana glared at her stomach. "Quiet, you! I don't want to hear Akane yelling at me because of you."
Chihiro giggled. Akane simply sighed and shook her head disapprovingly.
"Come on, elevator," Chihiro quietly urged. Finally she could hear the sound of the gears turning and the machine rising. It was making such a racket. The cacophony of sounds echoed loudly around them Chihiro was sure that everyone in the building could hear it. She certainly hadn't remembered the elevator being this loud. But then again, when she had last taken this certain elevator, it was noisy all around the bathhouse, so the racket would have been drowned out.
Finally the elevator came to a rackety stop and the doors creaked open. The girls quickly rushed in and Chihiro pulled the lever to bring them down.
"You think the thing was loud enough," Akane said. Chihiro nodded in agreement.
The elevator rocked down the floors until it finally stopped on what Chihiro hoped was the bottom floor. The doors opened, and the girls cautiously exited the carrier.
Chihiro glanced around and her breath caught. If she thought the entrance to the building had changed, it was nothing compared to this.
The walls were painted a deep violet. The only lighting came from the purple flame torches, so the shadows cast danced eerily around. The smell of the miasma seemed strongest here. The pungent smell, made them gag, and they lifted their clothed arms to their noses.
Chihiro took a few careful steps forward and almost ran into a passing servant. She quickly apologized, but the worker didn't even seem to notice. In fact, no one down here seemed to notice that three figures had just appeared from the elevator and were standing dumbstruck in the middle of the hallway. Their backs slumped, the employees just continued on with their business with fatigued, solemn expressions. The only communication heard was the occasional grunts and sighs.
"Chihiro, I don't like this place," Sakana said, scooting closer to her friends.
"Shh. I don't know if it's safe down here to talk," Chihiro warned.
"But I'm hungry!" Sakana whined.
"Ok, ok. I'll find us something to eat."
Chihiro began walking in the direction she remembered the kitchens to be in. Blueprint-wise, the place hadn't changed much. She was able to easy navigate the hallways, seeing as no one seemed to mind they were there. What surprised her was the fact that there weren't any signs of guards or other security around.
Chihiro came up to some swinging doors and casually walked in the room, her friends tailing behind.
The food smelled as delicious as ever. Chihiro sighed in relief at the thought. She loved the food here. As long as it wasn't poisoned or something worse.
"Everyone seems so…out of it," Akane said. True, the chefs in the kitchens looked just as spaced out as the workers outside. But that wasn't gonna stop Chihiro from stealing a bit of food.
She motioned her friends to follow her behind the counter where a chef was preparing what looked like breakfast. With quick hands, Chihiro grabbed plates of whatever she could reach and handed them to her friends. Hands full of delicious food and mouths watering, the girls ambled happily and hungrily out of the kitchens.
"That was pretty easy, don't you think, Chihiro?" Akane asked, grinning.
"Yeah!" Chihiro cheered. Then her face fell. "But it seemed a bit too easy."
"Oh, don't worry," Sakana said through a mouthful of food.
"Sakana, that's disgusting," Akane scolded, repulsed. "Can't you at least wait until we get back up to the room?"
"Yes, we must show you some manners, little girl." A dark voice answered from behind them. The girls immediately froze, neither brave enough to turn around and see who was behind them.
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A/N: I so want to end it here, but I can't. This chappie would be way too short if I did. And so, forgive me for interrupting.
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Even if Chihiro had thought of some brilliant means of escape from the malicious voice from behind her, she wouldn't have been able to move. Her legs felt disconnected from her spinal cord and nerves at the moment, so all she could do was stand there and pray to God that the creature, for lack of better terms, wasn't having any blood lusts at the moment.
"S-sorry," Akane stuttered. Chihiro gazed ahead of her in awe. Who knew Akane would be so brave? Chihiro was forever indebted to her friend. She would have turned around and give her friend a gracious hug, but alas, her feet still weren't fully connected to her body at the moment.
"I apologize for my dear friend here. We'll just be on our way now."
Without much of a glance backwards, Chihiro swiftly snatched her friends' wrists and the three raced down the hallway.
"The food!" Sakana cried as the morsels fell to the ground behind them.
"Forget it, Sakana! You can eat once we survive this!" Chihiro shouted.
Thundering footsteps followed them. Chihiro's heart beat so rapidly, she thought it would burst at any moment. Her muscles screamed for more oxygen, and yet Chihiro ignored them, only pushing her legs to run even faster. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up, though. They needed to find a place to hide, fast.
"Chihiro! You're going…too fast!" Akane panted.
Chihiro glanced back. Sakana had freed herself of Chihiro's sweaty grasp and was beginning to straggle a bit behind. Akane wasn't very far off from doing the same.
Chihiro paused for a moment, allowing her friends to catch their breath. As they did so, Chihiro scanned the area for any sort of cover. Hell, she was so desperate as to even settle for a toilet had there been one. But alas, she was denied even that luxury.
"Chihiro!" Sakana shouted.
Chihiro's head shot around, only to be met by the sight of what had been chasing them. A tall, bulky creature towered easily over the three girls. Its face was distorted, as if it had been beaten to a pulp plenty of times before. Nevertheless, its repulsive purple skin seemed perfectly kept with clashing bright orange hair to boot.
"Chihiro! It has lackeys!" Sakana pointed to the shadows forming behind the first figure, solidifying before their eyes into identical demons.
"You three, where are you badges?" The initial demon asked, pointing a menacing, long-nailed finger at the girls.
"Oh, we seemed to have left them upstairs!" Chihiro lied, smiling. "Sorry. We'll go get them."
"You will go nowhere," the demons behind the first formed a circle around them, leaving no gap unguarded. Then the leader spoke once again, "There were no badges to begin with, human." He spat out the last word with such venom, causing Chihiro to swallow hard.
"Now what do we do, genius?" Sakana whispered to her.
"I don't know," Chihiro answered with a shaky voice. What could they do? Those pesky…things…blocked their only means of escape. Oh, how Chihiro wished she could transform like Haku right about now. A flying ability would really come in handy.
The leader reached out his disgustingly clawed hand and attempted to make a grab at Akane. Chihiro watched his movement, and then on instinct she pushed her friend to the ground and out of the way. She felt a sharp pain on her shoulder, but ignored it.
Akane groaned in pain from her place on the floor. She gazed up at Chihiro and gasped.
"Chihiro! Your shoulder!" She pointed a finger to it. Chihiro merely put on hand on her shoulder, feeling a warm, gooey liquid seep between her fingers.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Chihiro reassured her. Though in reality, Chihiro was resisting the compelling urge to scream in pain.
"Akane! Chihiro! You guys okay?" Sakana kneeled beside them. She had the same reaction as Akane when she saw Chihiro's wound. Chihiro gave her the same answer.
"We have to get out of here and clean your wound," Akane said.
"I know," Chihiro attempted to stand, flinching as she did.
"You stubborn humans," the demon who had tried to grab Akane glared down at them. "If you will not come quietly, we shall have to use force."
He gave the simple signal of raising his hand, and the circle of creatures around Chihiro unsheathed their swords from their waist, holding them out as close as they could to the girls.
"Now, my soldiers get them!"
With the order they advanced ever-so-slowly. Chihiro remained paralyzed with immense fear. Was this really the end? She hadn't even done anything to help Haku and the others. She felt so helpless now and so worthless. So she did the only thing she could do.
"HAKU!" She cried, hoping someone would hear her cries and save them.
The demons had stopped advancing, staring with fearful eyes at something behind Chihiro. Most had lowered their swords as they lay forgotten on the floor.
Their leader, though he saw what was in front of him, grew impatient.
"What are you doing? Get them!"
But no one moved. Chihiro was curious now and she craned her neck to see behind her. She didn't see anyone or anything, but she saw the flicker of light follow the back of her head. Chihiro held up a hand behind her. Violet light reflected off her palm. Chihiro gazed at it with wide eyes.
"CHIHIRO!"
A/N: Not that long, I know. But I tried to get as much as I could done and I wanted to update ASAP! I know what I'm gonna do for next chapter, but still give me ideas on what should happen! There's gonna be some fluff next chappie, too!
Random Note: I've recently gotten addicted to the D.N. Angel songs. Actually, more like I've played "Caged Bird" and "Michishirube (Guide)" a million and one times…OMG, those songs are so moving…I just sing along with the lyrics. I've also seen all of D.N. Angel. The ending was so evil! It ended just like Final Fantasy: Unlimited!
Here's a little history on this story. At the beginning, I had no plot for this. Just a little romance fic. And even after I thought up the plot, I didn't know who the bad guys should be or what to call them. I have no clue anymore on how I came to use "Chimimouryou" other than I was using a Japanese dictionary...short-term selective memory loss is the name of my disease, I believe.
…you all don't have to review, especially after I made you all wait so long. /sniff/ I feel so inadequate and hopeless. I let you all down…