Hey guys! Well, I tried to do this alternating thing where I write one chapter of a different story each week, but that didn't work, so here I am!

Anyways, a lot of my friends have been joining scary. Like this one boy I know. He called himself AtomicPaladin on here, but he would be the last person you would expect to see on here. But here he is, joining FF! Also my other great friend joined. Her name is Kinoko Clarinet (means Mushroom Clarinet).

Now review responses!

goSg: Actually, it's not impossible to be six inches taller than someone. I mean, most of my cousins are at least a foot taller than me, and I'm 5' 2"(...ok, 5' 1 3/4" Leave me alone!). Also don't forget Haku isn't exactly normal. I promise he won't grow anymore, though. Unless he transforms into his dragon form, in which he'll be like a 10-15-foot long dragon. But that's besides the point Thanks for reviewing!

Ok. Thank you everyone else who reviewed! I feel so special and loved, even though I had taken ages to get up the last chapter. THANK YOU ALL!

Chapter 9

Chihiro glanced up at the sound of her name and her eyes widened. The form of a familiar boy was plummeting down to her. Out of fear of him landing on her, Chihiro scurried as fast as she could out of the way, and it was a good thing, too. Two seconds later the boy landed on his feet right where she had been situated beforehand. Chihiro swallowed hard, thankful to Kami. She put a shaky hand over her chest, willing her heart to slow.

"Chihiro, are you alright?" Haku asked. Chihiro glanced up from the ground. She came face to face with Haku, and their noses were mere inches apart. Simply put, it was just a bit too close for comfort for Chihiro as dozens of thoughts buzzed through her mind. She felt a blush creep to her cheeks and jumped backwards with a high-pitched yelp. So much for trying to calm herself down.

Haku cocked his head confusedly at her, his brown locks falling gently into his face. Chihiro's heart was pounding so rapidly, she swore she thought it would burst out of her chest.

Ok, now is not the time to be thinking like that! Chihiro shook her head vigorously to rid herself of the thoughts she was having.

"Haku, watch it!" Akane shouted and pointed behind the dragon boy. The unknown ugly creatures had begun to surround Haku!

"Haku, damn you for interfering," one cursed. He raised a spiked club and brought it down on Haku. But Haku was too fast as he flitted away.

"Chihiro, come on," Haku held out his hand. "We have to get out of here before anything worse happens."

Chihiro nodded and was about to take his hand, but then paused. "What about the food? And Sakana and Akane?"

Haku's face grew more solemn. "I can't carry you all at once."

"Then can't you create a portal or something?" Chihiro begged.

"My magic is too weak to be used here," Haku said as he glanced around. "Listen, I'll just carry you away so you're out of reach, then I'll go and get your friends."

"But those…things…might get to them before you do!" Chihiro argued. Haku scowled. "Listen, if you just cover us, we can escape quickly enough back to the elevator!"

Haku considered her for a moment, but was interrupted by the closeness of the enemy.

"Fine, but hurry!" Haku turned around, holding out his hand.

"Thanks, Haku," Chihiro smiled.

"Go!" He urged.

Chihiro rushed back to Sakana and Akane, who were cowering in their same spots. Chihiro grabbed their wrists and dragged them back towards the elevator they had taken earlier.

"What about Haku?" Sakana asked.

"He's holding them off while we get out of here," Chihiro explained. "Come on, we don't have much time."

Chihiro stopped on a dime on front of the elevator, causing her friends to ram into her which nearly knocked her over. Rubbing her back, Chihiro pulled the lever to call the carriage down.

"Ow," Sakana groaned.

"Did you have to stop so suddenly?" Akane said.

"Shh, we don't want anyone else finding out we're here," Chihiro warned. She waited anxiously for the doors to open as the noisy elevator roped its way down. She cursed under her breath for it having to be so loud. The elevator seemed to mock her more as it took its sweet time falling down.

Finally the doors creaked open, and no sooner Chihiro had rushed in, her friends still in tow by their wrists. Without hesitation, Chihiro immediately pulled the lever and the elevator began its slow ascent.

"Kami, Chihiro, that hurt, you know," Akane said, rubbing her wrist.

"Who ever knew the usually kind Chihiro could be so…brutal," Sakana added. Chihiro ignored their comments once again, instead straining her hearing for any sign of movement at each floor.

"I don't think she's listening to us," Sakana whispered to Akane.

"Yeah, I could tell by her constipated expression," Akane said.

"What? She's constipated? Why didn't she tell me? I wouldn't have forced her to come with me to the kitchens!" Sakana cried.

Akane merely shook her head. Sometimes that girl took sarcasm too literally, and yet she was the crazy and carefree one of the group. How idiotic.

The doors finally clanked open at the familiar floor with Lin's room. Once again Chihiro had begun to drag her friends so suddenly by their wrists to the safety of the room, making sure to stop the door behind her with a broom. Feeling that they were now safe, Chihiro's body decided to give her back her feeling. Her shoulder stung with such intensity, Chihiro sunk to the floor, clutching her shoulder.

"Chihiro!" Sakana cried.

"I told you we needed to get that wound treated," Akane scolded with a huff. "Now I don't know if it's infected or not."

Chihiro gave Akane a silly grin of reassurance, which was returned with one of concern.

"Come on, we have to get you cleaned up. Do you know where there's any water?"

Chihiro paused as she attempted to stand. She didn't have the answer to that question. But she probably would have guessed there was water down in the kitchens. They could go back down there, but then they would come across those ugly creatures again and get in worse shape than they were now, or at least more than Chihiro was now.

"The only place I can think of is the kitchens, and that is definitely out of the question," Chihiro said. The others nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do? If Chihiro gets sick, then we're in trouble," Sakana said.

"I don't know, but we need to get some water," said Akane.

Sakana's stomach suddenly decided to speak up and give its own input.

"And some food," Sakana laughed sheepishly.

The door racked as someone attempted to get inside. The three girls immediately froze and hearts raced. Chihiro anticipated the worst, as thoughts that the Chimimouryou had finally found their whereabouts. Her mind immediately began to think of a plan to hide her friends. It was her fault that they were here, and they didn't deserve to be enslaved, or something even worse.

Akane gave Chihiro a questioning look. Chihiro held up two fingers to her lips, telling them to remain quiet.

Sakana's stomach growled once again, this time a bit more forcefully. Chihiro and Akane glared at the girl, who only answered with an expression that told that she was hungry and couldn't control it. Frantic, Chihiro quickly mouthed the word for them to hide somewhere. Akane and Sakana successfully made it into one of the closets without making a single sound. Just as Chihiro was about to join them, a voice came from the door.

"Sen, it's me, Lin."

"Lin?" Chihiro tip-toed over to the door. She slowly removed the broom and creaked open the shoji door ever-so-slightly.

"Sen, why was the door jammed?" Lin asked.

Chihiro's eyes widened in delight and she immediately flung the door open.

"Guys, you can come out; it's only Lin," Chihiro called.

Lin gazed over Chihiro's shoulder at the two girls crawling out of the closet. Just as Chihiro had done, their eyes widened and they sighed in relief.

"Why were you all hiding? And what from?" Lin asked.

"I'm guessing they were creatures of the Chimimou—"

"Chihiro, get back!" Haku's voice cried. Startled, Chihiro backed away. Before she had any more time to react, Lin's eyes widened, and she fell to the floor, a large slash on her back. Haku landed neatly next to her, a sword in hand.

Chihiro remained speechless for a moment as everything sunk in. When she finally recovered form her shock, she turned on Haku, glaring full-force at him.

"Why did you kill her?" Chihiro shouted.

"Chihiro, let me explain—"

"WHY! Why did you kill one of my best friends!" Chihiro's voice rose with each uttered word.

"Chihiro, calm down and let me explain. That wasn't Lin," Haku said calmly.

Chihiro, about to do some more yelling, stopped mid-breath. Instead of yelling at him as she had first intended, all she could say was, "What?"

Haku pointed down to Lin's body. Expecting to see Lin's mangled body, Chihiro gasped at what she saw by her feet. A small version of the creatures they had just escaped from lay in a bloody heap before her, already beginning to decompose. Disgusted and frightened, Chihiro yelped and backed away.

"What is that thing? Was that thing just now the same kind of creature that attacked us earlier?" Chihiro asked.

"Yes. They are youkai apparitions," Haku explained. "Apparently this one followed you and tried to impersonate Lin to get to you. No doubt he noticed you three were here and sent them after you," Haku growled.

"Who noticed we were here?"

"Majin. He is the leader of the Chimimouryou."

"Wait a minute, here," Akane interrupted. "How do we know you aren't doing the same thing by impersonating Haku?"

Chihiro stared at her friend, appalled that she would think of such a thing. But then again, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed likely that this Haku could also be an imposter. He did seem to know exactly what was going on. Chihiro turned a questioning gaze on him.

Haku blinked confusedly at her. "What? I am Haku."

"Prove it, then," Sakana challenged.

"And how do you expect me to do that?" Haku asked.

A sudden thought crossed Chihiro's mind. "I know! What nickname did Sakana give you?"

Haku blushed embarrassedly and turned his head.

"Yeah! What nickname did I give you?" Sakana repeated.

"Little Haku," Haku muttered.

"What? I didn't quite catch that."

"Sakana! Leave him alone already! He's the real Haku!" Chihiro defended.

"Oh, someone's offended," Sakana remarked with a smirk.

"Yeah, and a bit protective, don't you think?" Akane added teasingly.

Now it was Chihiro's turn to blush. While Haku's certainly deepened to a brilliant shade of crimson, Chihiro's easily surpassed his.

"D-don't be ridiculous," she stuttered. Chihiro turned around to see Haku, but winced in the process.

"Oh, we still need to get that treated," Akane said, already having forgotten the fact that she had just been laughing at Chihiro. Chihiro noticed this and scowled a bit.

"But we still need some water," Sakana pointed out, "and if you haven't forgotten, those youkai are still after us."

"Chihiro, are you alright?" Haku asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Just please get us some water so they'll stop harassing me about this, please."

Haku laughed, then nodded and started out the door.

"Preferably hot water, please!" Akane called after him. Haku waved to show he understood, then he was gone, though not for long.

The boy soon reappeared back in the doorway with a woman at his side.

"Lin?"

"Is that the real her?"

"That was fast."

Those were the statements that met Haku and his companion when he came back.

"This is the real Lin, so don't worry," Haku said.

"And how do you know?"

"How are you so sure?"

"I'm hungry."

The three replies came back at him quickly, but Haku was surprisingly able to pick up on them all.

"Her smell," Haku said simply.

"And if you guys are hungry, then I'll go down and get you some food, okay?" Lin offered. "But by the way, why would someone else be here?"

"It seems Majin has figured out they are here," Haku told her. Lin glared dangerously at him.

"Hey, while you're at it, could you get us some hot water? Someone got sidetracked," Akane asked Lin while glaring also at the dragon boy.

Lin smirked and laughed. "Sure, be right back. But why do you need hot water?"

Everyone pointed to Chihiro, who backed away into a corner. Lin saw the wound on her shoulder and gasped.

"What happened to you?"

"The Chimimouryou," everyone replied in unison. Lin's eyes softened. Without any more questioning, she was out the door. Chihiro sighed. At least she hadn't been questioned to death. She guessed those two words must have been enough explanation.

She flinched once again as a slight draft form the door being open had crept in and swept over her injury. The cool breeze made it tingle and sting, and Chihiro had the strongest urge to scratch it as it was now starting to itch.

"It stings and itches so bad," Chihiro whined.

"Well, if it's starting to itch, that means it started to heal already," Akane said.

"But that is rather quick for the healing process to begin," Haku said.

"Yeah, but Chihiro has never been normal. When she got stitches on her knee, her skin had already begun to build over them after a week," Sakana said somewhat proudly.

Chihiro raked her fingers through her hair, but paused halfway. Her hair felt damp and sticky. Ignoring the disgusted feeling, she kept her hand on her head and let her hair down. Sakana chuckled and Akane blinked.

"And I thought I had a bad case of the frizzes," Akane muttered.

Chihiro, confused, felt the top of her head. Despite it being damp, many stray strands of hair tickled her palm. She groaned. She rarely had this much frizz, even after waking up in the morning. She probably looked as if she had stuck her finger in an electric socket.

She wrapped her hair tie around her wrist, and then paused.

"Haku, um," She began, unsure of what to say, really.

"Yes?" He glanced at her.

She inhaled deeply, finally finding her center. "Before you came, this," she held up her wrist for him to see, "started to glow a purple light. All those youkai backed away, like they were afraid of it."

Haku stared from Chihiro to the tie with a thoughtful, serious expression. He wasn't always looking directly at her, but his inspection and her heated anticipation of his answer made her feel slightly uncomfortable. A long silence followed her question, and Haku kept his gaze on her wrist.

Finally, after several minutes, Haku spoke.

"I don't know why that happened."

Chihiro felt her heart sink. She was sure he would have some kind of answer to help her. And if Haku didn't know anything, it was more than likely no one else would, so that left her with nothing but scared butterflies in her stomach. Not the nervous ones that would normally appear on your first date of some great audition, mind you, but the ones you get when you are about to venture into a mysterious area that you have no knowledge about and are completely alone.

The door opened and Lin entered the room, carrying a bucket of steaming hot water and several trays of food. Chihiro was pulled out of her musings and forced to sit by Akane, remaining perfectly still as she cleaned the blood. The latter part of her directions Chihiro found particularly difficult, as the water was scorching, as well as it stung like hell. It was then that Sakana stepped in and took great pleasure in watching her cringe as Akane worked her fingers. Chihiro looked to Haku for any kind of help, but he simply sat there, smiling at her. Smiling! Chihiro glared daggers at him. He responded with a laugh.

"There, done," Akane announced after half an hour of torture. Well, at least for Chihiro, who immediately backed away into a far corner, glaring at everyone and muttering incoherent something under her breath.

"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad." Sakana slapped her shoulder, whether purposely or not, Chihiro couldn't tell. But nonetheless, she yelped in pain, her eyes now mere slits of brown. Sakana laughed sheepishly and apologized.

"Well, I have to go before I get into any trouble," Lin said as she stood. "I'll see you girls later." She walked out the door with a smile.

"You are cruel," Chihiro hissed, with emphasis on "cruel". "All of you."

"What? Why all of us?" Sakana asked.

"You because you put me through agonizing pain." Chihiro pointed to Akane. "You because you took such great pleasure in holding me down while I went through that agonizing pain." She pointed to Sakana, who gasped in mock horror. "And you especially."

"Why me?" Haku asked.

"Because you, of all people, should have helped me! And you just sat there, laughing! That's why." Chihiro huffed. He had such a pained expression on his face, but she could tell it was mock pain because soon he was smiling.

"Sorry," he said.

Chihiro "hmph"-ed and turned around so they couldn't see the involuntary smile creeping to her face.

A/N: Wasn't this unusually long? I feel so proud of myself! (Ok, I'll stop now...)

Just one thing, though.When Haku told Chihiro and co. what those ugly guys were, I purposely put youkai apparitions just so you know they are evil spirits, but they are also sort of demons. "Youkai" literally means apparition, so yeah, that's why. In the future, if I refer to them I will just say youkai or something else.

Please review! Come on, you know you want to. The little purple button is just sooo tempting. It's all purply and small and purply and square and purply...Also, guess what? This story is almost up to 10,000 hits! Woot! That's my new goal. To get to 10,000. I'm at 9,284 now, and I watch it go up every day (bored, I know...).

Next time on Dragon Boy: Chapter 10: Questions

Summary: While recovering, Chihiro begins to question Haku. Like why he brought her here. And what good she had in helping them fight off youkai. (Fluffy moments will come in the next chapter! Promise!)