In an instant, the boy was right in front of her, each movement sharp and fluid as he clapped one hand over her gaping mouth, silencing the terrified yelp tearing itself from the back of her throat. His brow furrowed in concentration, he swept a cold, studious gaze over her face, and suddenly she felt as if she were not being looked straight through but directly into, as if he could plainly see all her secret thoughts and desires and was currently analyzing which ones to use to his advantage. Chihiro's eyes widened and she drew in a quick breath from her nose as her gaze locked with his, two harsh gray-green rings of surprising depth surrounding dark, intelligent pupils; what startled her most of all was not the striking color nor the intensity behind it, but the fact that they seemed so familiar to her.
"Don't move," he said, his voice a low murmur that matched the controlled, nearly stern manner in which he held himself. "And keep quiet."
After a few moments, his stare became not frightening, but watchful, his intimidating glare softening to something more inquisitive than before. A chill meandered down her spine. Slowly, he lifted his hand away from her mouth, and Chihiro became very aware of its absence, the warmth of his touch replaced by a delicate afternoon breeze. In spite of this apparent relaxation on his part, he did not back away, instead remained where he stood before her, his stance guarded and wary, every muscle in his body visibly tense. The sheer unwavering force of his gaze stirred up unease within her; the way he was staring at her, as though she were an old friend who had gone away for a very long time, made her wonder if he possibly had her mistaken for someone else.
For the first time, Chihiro got a good look at him, and as she drank in his appearance, she couldn't shake the distinct feeling that these details were not new to her. He appeared to be about her age, perhaps a year or two older, and was tall and lean, his height and build emphasized by the traditional Japanese tunic and pleated pants in which he was dressed. His hair was inky-black and meticulously cut into a sloping bob, with bangs that swept across his forehead in a neat line. From somewhere deep within her, a swell of emotion rose up, and suddenly Chihiro felt her throat closing with an overwhelming urge to cry; she took a shuddering breath, chasing the unwelcome onslaught of emotion away, but the feeling that she'd seen this boy before still lingered, unshakable.
"I'm sorry for that," he spoke up again, and she couldn't help but notice how smooth and easy his voice was, like a river in the middle of a quiet forest. "It was the only way to keep from attracting undue attention. I'd like to avoid anyone else learning of your presence here, if it's at all possible," elaborated the boy, chancing a quick look over his shoulder before focusing his sights on her once again. Something close to the beginnings of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and the warmth it brought to his eyes shocked her. "Chihiro," he greeted, sending her stomach into knots. "It has been some time, hasn't it?"
Immediately defensive, Chihiro stumbled a step back, nearly tripping over a small boulder in her path as she did so. "Wh-what?" she stuttered lamely. "I-I'm really sorry, but – but I think you have the wrong person. I don't think we've ever met before," she confessed, hating it when the briefest instance of hurt flickered across his face before his countenance resumed its typical mask of calm. "How did you know my name?"
Rather than answer her many inquiries, the boy frowned and muttered, half to himself, "Something is very wrong." In the prolonged silence that followed, he swept another thoughtful glance over her, seemingly mulling over what he ought to do next. At last, he deigned to address her once again, saying, "Never mind. It has been very good to see you again, Chihiro, but if you're having difficulties remembering this place, then we need to return you to your home as quickly as possible."
Something in his tone of voice as the last sentence left his lips sent tiny pinpricks of fear all throughout her body. His words were calm and reasonable enough, but there was a thinly-veiled urgency flowing throughout each of them that caused her to wonder if getting back home truly would be as simple as he made it sound. Had she gotten into trouble for ambling into a place where she wasn't supposed to be? She hadn't had any idea that there was anything dangerous on the other side – especially since her parents had always told her that the stories she remembered from her time here as a child were all just her imagination. Could she really have dreamed up somewhere as horrible – as wonderful – as that? It didn't seem as if she would get her answer, not today, but at least this boy was going to help her get back home where she belonged.
Half feeling as though she'd done something she ought to be scolded for, Chihiro gulped and responded, "I-I'm sorry! I-I didn't know that there was anything on the other side of this tunnel. My friends and I were taking a walk through the woods, and I ended up here. I can go back. I didn't mean to intrude or anything."
The boy did not say another word, simply watched as Chihiro gathered her courage and turned around to face the open maw of the tunnel once again, the chill of the air flowing inside whipping lightly against her cheeks. She narrowed her eyes against the glare of the sun, but even without an obstructed view, she couldn't entirely see through to the other side. The darkness of the tunnel seemed to stretch on forever, with no clear exit in sight. Her stomach dropped, and she bit her lip to keep herself calm; hopefully, Ari, Takeshi, and Mei had stayed on the other side like she'd asked, and would go get help or come looking for her themselves if she took too long to get back. Everything will be okay, she told herself. It has to be.
If she were being completely honest with herself, she found that she was the slightest bit reluctant to leave the boy behind. Mysterious and aloof though he appeared to be, she couldn't help but think that he seemed lonely, too, and the way he'd spoken of her company – as if he'd waited for her to visit all this time, and at last, she'd arrived – gave her the feeling that he hadn't had someone to confide in for a long time. But I have friends of my own, she reminded herself, and a family who cares about me. I've got to get back. Still, even as this thought crossed her mind, she resolved to return here someday, and perhaps check on the boy, and see if there were anything she could do to help him.
At last, Chihiro strode forward towards the mouth of the tunnel, not daring to look back should she change her mind. However, she only made it to the very edge, where the grass from the meadow disappeared and the cobblestone pathway of the tunnel began, before she was stopped dead in her tracks; though she could see nothing but air in front of her, it felt as if she'd just collided with a thick glass windowpane. She staggered backward from the force of impact, struggling to keep from falling straight on her butt, and stared in bewilderment and increasing panic at the entrance to the tunnel. Adrenaline coursing through her, she rushed forward with her arms extended, but again, her hands only made contact with the same invisible wall, and no matter how hard she pushed, whatever was barring her way would not budge.
"Huh?!" Chihiro lowered her trembling hands, wringing them anxiously before wheeling around to face the boy once again, who was observing her with steadily building concern in his eyes. "What's going on?" she cried, trying – and failing miserably – to keep her voice calm. "Why – why can't I get through?"
The boy stepped forward, eyes wide in a thunderstruck expression; his voice was deceptively cool and collected as he replied, "I'm . . . not sure. As far as I'm aware, nothing has ever blocked that exit before. Don't worry," he added quickly, and oddly enough, this did reassure her, "there must be some sort of alternate way around it."
She nodded shortly and trailed behind him as he wandered around the side of the cave, searching for some way around the seemingly-impassable wall. Alright, Chihiro thought to herself in a desperate attempt to bring some sort of control to her frayed nerves, it's okay. It's going to be okay. He's find an alternate way out. You'll get to go home and forget all about this.
And yet, the longer he delayed in finding a shortcut, the more her fears continued to blossom within the pit of her stomach, growing until they were so monstrous and heavy that she felt they might consume her from the inside-out. Even his certainty seemed to waver, his movements growing sharper and less calm by the second as, from every angle, they were repeatedly bounced back by that same impenetrable force. What had she done? All she'd wanted to accomplish through walking over to this side was just to prove some childhood fantasy correct, and now she'd gotten herself trapped here. And yet . . . at the same time, she couldn't help but wonder if this as a whole proved her right – after all, as far as she knew, invisible barriers were impossible, weren't they? What if this place really was filled with the magic she'd originally thought was here?
"There's no way through." The boy's voice sliced through the uncomfortable silence, confirming her worst apprehensions. She glanced just over her shoulder to where he stood, trying her best not to become frantic as she listened to what else he had to say. "I will get to the bottom of this, Chihiro, I promise, but for now, I'm afraid you'll have to come with me. I know it's inconvenient, but you need someplace to rest until we figure out how to allow you to return home."
Chihiro folded her arms across her chest and took another wary step backward, hesitant to go with a stranger anywhere beyond this meadow. "Go with you where?" she asked, thankful that she at least sounded braver than she felt. "A-are you sure there's really no other way that I can get through the tunnel?"
In response to her pleas, he sighed and gave a rueful half-smile, eyes reflecting something that seemed to her to be strangely akin to sympathy. "If there were, then I would send you back through in an instant," he confirmed, tone of voice tinged with regret. "Here – take my hand, and I can lead you to someone who just may know how to fix this for you. Don't be afraid," he murmured, extending his hand for her to clasp onto. "I'm a friend."
She wasn't particularly certain of why, but for whatever reason, those last words were enough to convince her. Not for the first time since she'd arrived here, that same feeling that she'd met this boy before swept over her, almost compelled her to reach out and fling her arms around him in a tight embrace. She knew entirely well that she couldn't simply place her trust in any old stranger who happened to cross her path, but something about him was so distressingly familiar that she couldn't help but feel as if he had only the best intentions. If he was willing to show her kindness and help her get out of here, then she had to throw caution to the wind and simply hope for the best; it didn't look like there was anyone else around here that could help her, after all.
"Oh . . . okay," Chihiro whispered, and, as if to punctuate her sentence, she reached out and placed her hand in his. The boy's fingers closed around hers, and in no time at all, they were off.
Their venture through the meadow brought them to a deserted-looking little village, the streets empty and silent, though the shop windows still pronounced their businesses as open and the marketplace vending stands still displayed a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, and enormously plump fish and chickens. The buildings were short and stout, many of them derelict, as though they hadn't been properly tended to in years. It was as if life here had one day suddenly just drawn to a halt, and there was nobody around to notice or care, so everything had just been left in a permanent standstill. It was distinctly eerie, like being in a ghost town from the movies, and though Chihiro tried to swallow her nerves, the nearly-imperceptible tightening of her hand around her companion's gave away the truth of her emotions.
I remember this place, she realized as they walked deeper into the tiny town. This was where my parents and I decided to have that picnic, and then we got separated. They found me wandering around here. That was what they'd always told her, anyway. Something about that didn't feel quite right, but she decided not to give it much thought at the moment. Most likely, it was just her jangled, panicked nerves causing her imagination to overreact to a new and strange environment. It gave her the shivers, regardless.
"This place is so creepy," she noted out loud, looking for any excuse to cut through the uncomfortable quiet. "How much longer until we reach where we're headed, d'you think?"
The boy shushed her in response. "You need to keep your voice down," he reminded her, though not unkindly in spite of his sternness. "There are many here who would attempt to do you harm if they ever learned that you were here. I've placed a spell on you to keep them from noticing you, but if you make too much noise, it will break and the magic will not protect you any longer." There was a brief pause before he decided to quickly add in a low, conspiratorial voice, "We're not much farther from our destination, don't worry."
"Oh – sorry – I'm sorry," Chihiro replied in a hasty whisper, shoulders caving in sheepishly as she searched in the boy's clever eyes for any signs of forgiveness. Even so, a thought kept prickling at the back of her mind, and try as she might to hold it back, she couldn't resist. Careful to keep her voice as soft as possible, she tacked on hurriedly, "Um – I'll be quiet, but first I wanted to ask you . . . I never got your name."
With only a scarce little glance in her direction, the boy said, "You may call me Haku, if you like."
Some strange, barely detectable note in the undercurrent of his voice told Chihiro that he was still upset about earlier, when she had failed to recognize him in spite of the fact that he seemed to know her quite well. She had to admit, she felt guilty for how it seemed that she'd hurt his feelings, but at the same time, she didn't quite know whether to believe him or if he was simply deluded. After all, in the same breath that he'd told her that they knew each other, he'd talked about magic and invisible walls and other impossible, nonexistent things. Could this be just another dream, or had she wandered into something beyond her realm of understanding? As the minutes drew by, she was beginning to fear that it was the latter.
The boy – Haku – nudged her on the shoulder, and when she drew herself from her thoughts and back into the present, she realized that they had just walked over a modest little bridge and come to the entryway of what looked to be a gigantic, opulent bath house. Chihiro furrowed her brow, immediately bemused; he'd said that he was taking her to someone who could help her get home, but how could anyone at a bath house do anything about the tunnel that led here? She glanced over at Haku, wondering if he would make note of the fact that they seemed to be going the wrong way, but he seemed to know what he was doing – or at least, didn't show any signs of hesitating as the bath house pulled into view.
"I – uh – I don't think we're – " she began, forgetting the rule about keeping quiet, but her sentence didn't last long before Haku cut her off, anyway.
"Follow me," he interrupted, leading her around the right side of the bath house until they reached the back, where they were greeted by a rather sizable flight of stairs.
Chihiro gulped, instantly seized by her inherent fear of heights as she gazed down the steps, trying to see where the bottom was and only getting a little glance of an ant-tiny platform at the very end. The steps themselves were no comfort, either, rickety and wooden, and so aged that they had gone concave in the centers from years of being trodden upon. She edged forward and took a single tentative step, quickly reeling her foot back as the wood creaked noisily under her weight. Okay, there's no way I'm walking down these things, she thought, but just as she opened her mouth to protest, Haku spoke up with further instructions.
"Chihiro," he said, pointing down in the direction of the sloping staircase to where they reached their end, "do you see the door at the far end of the steps? It's very small, and off to the side. It leads to the boiler room – that is where we need to go next." Only now did he look over at her, and, sensing her apprehension, gave her the barest hint of a smile. "They're far sturdier than they look. I imagine they've carried much heavier than you over the years without so much as a splinter. Just stay calm and you'll be fine."
With a nod of her head, she gingerly pressed her left foot down on the first step once more, deciding to try again, more cautiously this time. Haku followed her and slowly, patiently, they made their descent. The trip was relatively simple and went without incident, save for a few occasions in which the stairs groaned in protest and threatened to snap beneath Chihiro's feet, alarming her more than anything else. For some reason, she couldn't shake the feeling that these steps had broken before, and so as she continued to make her way down, she did so as carefully as possible, even if it slowed down her movements by a considerable amount.
At last, they reached the bottom, and she let out a sigh of relief, her footing somewhat shaky as she all but galloped off the last few stairs. If Haku was amused by her antics, he didn't let it show as he moved forward and tugged open the door to the boiler room, gesturing for her to go first through the open space on the other side. Even from where she stood, she could feel the warmth of the boiler room billowing out into the evening air; what sort of person worked in there, she wondered, and how on Earth would they know anything about getting her home? Rather than get bogged down in her questions and doubts, however, she crawled through the tiny door, and knew Haku had followed behind when she heard it shut after them.
The ambiance of the boiler room did nothing to help her nerves; the sounds of squealing, churning metal and puffing bellows filled her ears, setting her on edge, but Haku's placid and unshakable presence at her side was help enough in calming her down. They headed quietly down a narrow hallway, towards an orange glow in the distance that alerted her to the fact that the boiler room must begin there. Sure enough, when they turned the corner, the corridor opened into a wide room, where a fire was burning and what appeared to be little balls of soot were hurrying along a long wooden plank, carrying bricks of coal and dumping them into the crackling flames. The change in temperature was almost immediate and definitely noticeable; within seconds, Chihiro felt beads of sweat prickle up on the back of her neck, as if she had just stepped into a furnace.
"Well, now. You're back, are you?"
Chihiro gave a start, only now noticing the person – or, rather, the creature – manning the mechanics of the room, who had just spoken up . . . though to her or to Haku, she couldn't be sure. He appeared to be a humanoid spider-monster, with long, arachnid-esque arms that busily bustled around, taking care of what she could only assume were all his own responsibilities. He was bald, and his face was bunched up in a perpetual look of disapproval and concentration, his mouth covered by a bushy brown mustache. He didn't even look up as Chihiro and Haku edged into the room, merely continued spinning the myriad of wheels and gadgets that surrounded his workspace.
"I – uh – " Chihiro turned to Haku for approval, knowing that he'd said earlier that he'd put a spell on her to keep her from being noticed. Could it be that his magic had worn off, or was this person simply strong enough to see past it? Either way, she still wasn't certain if she were allowed to make any noise yet, and didn't want to risk getting herself in further trouble.
Haku gave her a quick, barely-there nod before directing his attention to the stranger. "Yes, but don't get too attached; it would seem that she has no memories of this place. And in any case, she's only trying to return home; something has trapped her here, Kamaji."
"Hmm?" Kamaji inclined his head in their direction, cocking it to the side pensively as he gave the two of them a quick once-over before concluding, "You don't say. That is curious."
"Indeed it is," replied Haku, and Chihiro thought she detected a hint of impatience in his voice as he did. "And I brought her to you under the assumption that you would be able to be of some assistance . . . ?"
Kamaji seemed more entertained by Haku's annoyance than threatened, a prospect which admittedly confused Chihiro, who had been stunned into silence by nearly everything the boy had said to her since they'd met up only a short time ago. All the same, he still seemed to concede to Haku's request, and, focusing his attention on her now, extended one of his arms to a baffling length until he was able to place his hairy palm flat on her forehead. His touch was surprisingly cool, for someone who worked in the boiler room, of all places.
"Well, the problem with her memories is easy enough to pick out," he said after a moment's pause. "It looks like she's had a memory block placed on her."
"What?" Haku replied, and that singular syllable was far sharper than anything else she'd heard him say this whole time. His eyes were ablaze with a chilly light, his brow furrowed and casting a severe shadow across his face. "A memory block? By whom?"
Kamaji seemed to frown beneath the wiry hairs of his mustache. "I can't rightly tell," he sighed. "But it's been bestowed upon her by someone very powerful – the magic is nearly unbreakable."
"There was an invisible barrier in front of the tunnel that Chihiro tried to use to leave," Haku explained. "Do you think the same person who created that block could have tried to seal her inside the spirit world?"
Kamaji pondered this for what seemed like an eternity, then shook his head, slowly, left to right. "No," he murmured at last, his voice resting low and gravelly in his throat. "To do so would be all but impossible. The memory block in her mind is powerful, yes, but no sorcerer alive is so gifted as to be able to close or open a new door in the veil between our world and the mortal world. My guess would be that it's the work of a different entity completely – or that it's a work of nature, not caused by any outside forces."
"Hmph," was Haku's only response to this.
Seeming rather unsatisfied with the answers he'd received here, he glanced off to the side for a moment or two, perhaps mulling over his options. Chihiro glanced silently between the two of them, wondering what on Earth was going on. A memory block? Did that mean that she actually had been here once, and simply couldn't remember what had happened? She didn't know whether the idea delighted or terrified her; she was right all along, and for that, she was grateful, but the thought of this completely different world existing right alongside her own unnerved her more than she could say.
"Chihiro," said Haku at last, successfully catching her attention. He looked as if a thought had only just occurred to him, eyes bright with imagined possibility.
"Y-Yes?" She looked up from where she had been restlessly kneading her knuckles, arching her eyebrows questioningly as she met the boy's gaze.
"Stay here for a while," he instructed, his voice terse and tight, but she could tell his anger was not directed at her. "Kamaji will keep you company. In the meantime . . . there's someone I believe I need to have a talk with."
She would have agreed to his terms, anyway, but she was scarcely even given an opportunity to disagree or protest before he had spun quickly on his heel and disappeared around the corner, gone off to who knows where.