D/N: So, back to the story now. We left off with Haku and Chihiro taking a nap in their small shelter. Let's continue on, then! Oh, and this might turn into Haku/Chihiro. She's older now, so maybe it would be fun. When she was younger, it'd probably seem like rape. XD Oh, and Chihiro was ten in Spirited Away, right? I'm not entirely sure. I think it was mentioned at one point, but I don't have the case or anything. So. .. I'll rely on anyone who reads this and takes the time to comment! Thanks! Chocolate to anyone who helps! (Virtual chocolate, of course. I can't send chocolate through the computer screen. .. yet. )

They hiked for another two days. In that time, Chihiro noticed that Haku had become nearly his old self again, the person she remembered from the time of Yubaba, when she had been ten. He also didn't talk as much anymore, as if he had exhausted all of his conversational abilities in that one night by the fire, which made the traveling a rather lonesome chore despite his presence. She also noticed that he hadn't tired to touch her again, as though getting too close to her would somehow do something to them. Deep down, she felt hurt at the fact that he had avoided touching her at all; she, after getting over the initial shock of finding out everything, actually had enjoyed such physical contact. Perhaps her love for her friend dug deeper than the bond they had shared when she was younger. Every time she thought of that touch on her arm, her heart speeded up and she blushed deeply, falling back a bit so that her friend couldn't see, trying to focus more on her cramping calves. That didn't help. She, instead, counted the trees that they passed, which bored her nearly to tears, but kept her mind busy.

After a while of walking Haku held up one pale hand, and Chihiro stopped, startled. He glanced at her over one shoulder, "I can tell you're in pain. We'll rest here for a while, and then continue on when you've rested for a bit." Haku sat upon a log with a sigh, and pointed into a clearing, "There's a small river over that way. The current isn't very strong; it'd be the best to soak your calves in the water."

Chihiro blinked, and squinted at the clearing. Her eyes caught the glimmer of sunlight on moving water, and she nodded at her friend, "Thanks, Haku." She didn't even try to wonder how Haku knew of her ailment; he probably wouldn't tell her.

He offered her a half-smile, and leaned back against a tree trunk, "Come back here if you're hungry. If you see anything strange, either shout or run as fast as you can. I'll always be able to find you."

Quickly, before Haku could see her blush again, Chihiro turned away, and ran for the river, half of her wanting just to stay and talk with him and the other half wanting to get into the cool-looking waters to soak. It had been a long day, and she hadn't the time to bathe all that much. It was rare that they'd stop long enough by a river or stream bank long enough for her to have a quick dive into the water to, at least, get off a few layers of dirt and old sweat. Chihiro dropped to her knees at the river's edge, and splashed water happily up onto her face, feeling the dirt and muck from their journey melting off with the water. She scrubbed at her arms and exposed part of her legs, and then turned around to glance at her friend. Haku had his back to her, as though reading her mind.

Chihiro stripped off her clothes, and dove into the water, nearly crying out as her body hit the frigid water. It was colder than she had thought, and deeper. Haku had been right about the fact that the current wasn't strong, though. She barely felt the water tug at her body. Kneeling in the shallow water, Chihiro pulled her clothes into the water after her and began to scrub them against the smooth stones lining the bottom of the river, getting them as clean as possible. Briefly, she regretted not bringing any spare sets of clothing, and then shook it out of her head. There was nothing she could do now about it. She had a sinking suspicion that there'd be no way of going home until this entire affair was over with.

She dropped the soaking bundle of clothing onto the bank, and, with a quick glance over at Haku to make sure he was still facing away, laid them out on a flat rock that had the sun shining directly on it; she could swim until it dried. Chihiro dropped back into the water with barely a splash, and sighed, running her hands over the moss that grew thickly on the riverbank. Something snorted from behind her, and Chihiro whirled around, the blue-green dagger in her hand, her brown eyes wide with terror. On the opposite bank, alarmingly close to the water, stood a magnificent black-haired stallion who was eyeing her curiously, as though she might be the strange apparition, not the horse himself. Slowly, she inched toward the horse, which stood still on the bank, long tail flicking away the flies that ventured too close.

Chihiro had the sudden impulse to just jump on the horse's back and ride out of this nightmare. She could easily get away; the horse looked terribly fast. Her hand stretched out to touch one of those muscled legs, and then she stopped, remembering what Haku told her earlier, "If you see anything strange, either shout or run as fast as you can." A horse appearing so suddenly did seem strange and right when she could have done with one. The horse rolled his eye, as though telling her to ignore Haku's warning, but then Chihiro caught something strange. The horse. . . there was something wrong with the horse. She might not be an expert on equine, but even she could tell that there was something wrong with it.

Slowly, Chihiro paddled away from the strange horse, her eyes never leaving the oddity. His long flowing mane wasn't of hair, as she had first thought, but of dark green kelp that limply lay against the horse's thick neck. There wasn't any horse that she knew that had such a strange mane. The horse stamped its front right hoof onto the moss and pebbles that were wantonly placed on the bank, as though commanding her to come back, and Chihiro grabbed her clothes and began to run as fast as she could away, terrified. Her naked-ness was the least of her worries now; she wanted to get back to Haku, and getting clothes on would just delay that.

Suddenly, the horse whinnied angrily, and she could hear the thunder of hooves and then the splash of water. Chihiro ran faster, the ache in her legs forgotten as adrenaline pumped through her veins at a mad rate. Haku looked up dreamily as she neared, the thunder of hooves bearing down on her. As soon as he saw what was behind her, Haku's mild expression melted away, replaced by something keener, dangerous. He threw himself forward and beyond Chihiro to face the enemy head on, his human body blurring for a moment before thrashing out into the long serpentine body that she knew so well to be his dragon form.

As the two beings clashed, Chihiro pressed herself against the rough bark of one of the trees, her eyes wide and a whimper escaping her parted lips. Both of her wide brown eyes were filled with unshed tears as Haku roared and slashed with long talons at the demon-horse, protecting her. In turn, the demon-horse lashed out violently with sharp hooves, whinnying like mad, keeping the dragon at bay. The stalemate only lasted for a few moments, though. Haku, stronger and more experienced, managed to hit the horse with his long tail, throwing it against a large tree. It made a pitiful sound, a cross between a whinny and a pained whimper before picking itself painfully up and galloping off, its kelp-mane flaring out behind it, running as if the hounds of hell were on its very hooves.

In a shatter of scales, Haku changed back, panting, blood dripping into his eyes from a wound on his forehead. He whirled around and ran to Chihiro's side, concern etched on every part of his face, "Did it do anything to you? Are you all right?"

Chihiro could only nod dumbly, trembling violently from head to foot. There were a lot of dangerous things that she had faced in her life, but nothing near as frightening as that horse was. It was no wonder that she saw no one else. With that running around, she would want to get as far away from this place as possible. Haku sighed, and collapsed onto the soft loam of the forest floor, "You scared me. You should have yelled."

Finally swallowing past the lump in her throat, "I-I didn't know it was dangerous that dangerous. It looked so much like a horse, and once it began to attack me. . . ."

Anger flashed on Haku's face for a moment, and then it was replaced by frustration, "There are no horses here. Every single creature here is out of mythology for humans. This place, everything in it, has things that don't exist in the human world. Every single tree is very different from the ones you're used to. In turn, we don't have a good deal of the things that humans have. Animals are at the top of that list."

It was true; Chihiro had yet to hear the familiar sounds of birds call in the forest tops. She had thought it was because of the strange schedule of the rising and set of the sun and that the birds were as thrown off as she was. As she relaxed against the bark to think, everything strange falling into their own snug places, she suddenly remembered what she had been doing before the strange demon-horse had attacked her. Haku seemed to realize the same thing when she did, and blushed, pivoting around instantly. "Put on some clothes."

Chihiro was already scrambling to get into her clothes before he even said anything, her face burning so much that she thought it might be on fire. Haku waited, patiently, as she threw on underwear, bra, pants and t-shirt with some difficulty; they were still heavy with river water. She grunted as the jeans refused to allow her leg through without a fight. She could see her friend's back twitch, and then he commented, "It sounds like you're being attacked by a kelpy again."

In a fit of uncharacteristic rage, Chihiro threw the wet ball of her socks at the back of Haku's head, her jeans finally on. "My clothes are wet!"

Haku dodged and turned, the corner of his mouth lifted in another half-smile. Amused, he tossed her socks back at her, "You're going to have to live with them like that. We'll reach a way station later on. There'll be clean clothes there for you and proper food. Had we not rested, we would have made it before dark."

Chihiro ignored him, pulling on her socks, and looking at him, "Can I have my pack?"

Haku paused and looked around, "Did we bring it with us?"

It was a long moment before Chihiro was able to look at her friend again. She walked behind him, muttering darkly to herself about stupid people who couldn't keep track of another's personal belongings. Haku didn't seem to care that he had forgotten the pack; it was nothing to him. He didn't have any humanity to remember. Chihiro slowly stewed in such distasteful thoughts as these, glaring at the back of the dragon's neck, until he suddenly turned, fixing her to the spot with his olive eyes, "If you must stare at me so, at least tell me why."

"You know why." She retorted, huffily.

He shrugged and turned away, "That pack was nothing. The only thing in there was stale sandwiches that would only go to waste and pollute the spirit world. It is best that we left the pack behind." He turned away and kept on walking, caught up in his own thoughts.

She stood there for a moment, hackles rising. He kept on walking without her, not looking back to see if she followed him. Her hand unconsciously touched the hilt of the green-blue blade that Haku had given her, thinking of throwing it away not for the first time that day. It was a burden upon her soul, surely. It didn't even help her against the kelpy. Haku suddenly disappeared between the closely growing trees, and she began to panic. Chihiro didn't want to be left in this wood with whatever was left here; the sun was already almost fully set. There could be so many things that were more active at night time. All sorts of creatures began to flash through her mind, reminding her of the stories she had heard of as a child. Things like vampires, werewolves and zombies. Creatures that rose from the shadows of the night to ravage the flesh of humans and turn their victims into more of their kind. And was she not a human? A lone human lost in the world of spirits; she would be the target of any hungry creature.

Chihiro took off in a panicked run, her eyes wide and filled with tears. Several times, she tripped over hidden tree roots, thinking of them, each time, as hands rising from the ground to grab at her ankles. One threw her into a prickly bush that scratched at her crossed forearms and face, clawing at her like a thousand little rodents, each trying to get a piece of her. When she loosed herself with a breathless squeak, she tried to run again. Two arms lunged out of the darkness, curling around her waist. One ghostly hand wrapped itself firmly over her mouth as she tried to scream. A voice whispered from the darkness as she tried to bite her captor's hand, expecting fangs to plunge into the throbbing artery in her neck at any moment, "Chihiro, there you are."

She froze, recognizing the voice. The two arms loosened around her, but the hand over her mouth didn't move, "Are you going to scream?"

Chihiro shook her head.

"Do you promise?"

For a moment, Chihiro considered shaking her head, and then nodded quickly. The hand let go, the arms disappearing back to the side of their owner. She turned, slowly, to face Haku. "Haku, I'm sorry I strayed before. . ."

He sighed, "No, it's no big deal. It's a good thing that you weren't eaten, though. Nighttime is especially dangerous when you're alone in the woods."

Chihiro planted both hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side and pursing her lips, "You could have told me that earlier. I wouldn't have stayed back had you done so."

"I didn't think you lacked common sense."

She considered hitting him again, but then calmed herself and settled for simply glaring at the dragon boy. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been pitched headfirst into a new world I know barely anything about anymore. It's been a long time since I was last here, at least in human terms. You probably don't even notice the years passing."

Something close to a grimace crossed his face, and it looked as if Haku wanted to tell her something. Then the moment passed and he sighed, "Maybe I don't. But what I do know is that you're getting cranky. The way station is right over there, or you can sleep out here with the kelpies. Whatever strikes your fancy." This time he waited until she answered.

Chihiro gripped his arm in a fearful impulse. "I'll go with you. Just. . .don't leave me alone here again."

Haku shook his head, a half-grin showing his teeth in a flash of white, before leading her away.

D/N: So, a bit of the beginning of Haku/Chihiro. I don't know why, but I think they'd make a cute couple. –blanks- Well, anyway. . .. Yeah, Kelpies are Scottish, in case you think you've heard of them before. They normally try and lure human females down into their watery lairs to devour them. . It almost got Chihiro. '

If anyone has any suggestions on mythical creatures I should use, put them in with a review along with a brief description. I'll try and use them, if I remember. –will start to use a notebook to write details down--

Read and review! Thanks!