Right. Now, let's see...thanks for reviewing, Rose.
The girls were deterred by the masked spirit and the other people. One of the men was chanting a little rhyme about welcoming the "rich man". "Beg for tips, this is the time! Beg for tips, make yourselves a dime!"
The girls ended up right in the masked spirit's way when a spirit refused to let them in the elevator, especially when he saw the blood on Chihiro's hands.
"Get out of the way, our guest is coming through here!" the chanting man yelled at the two girls.
Arya put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "I'm not in his way." she said. "I'm standing to the side. Besides, I need to say thank you to our guest for getting me soap tokens yesterday."
Chihiro ignored the man and said to the spirit "Thank you for helping me and my sister earlier."
"Don't talk to him, you -" the man began, but the masked spirit threw him back and beckoned both girls over. Offering them a huge handful of gold. Although he'd been speaking, he went back to just saying "uh" over and over when he did so.
Arya smiled at him and said "We're sorry, but we're really too busy at the moment to talk money."
"We don't want any, but thanks." added Chihiro.
They ran to go to Haku, but Arya hung back, hearing the man apologizing to the masked spirit. "I'm terribly sorry, sir. You'll have to excuse the little girls, they're just humans..."
And Arya also saw the masked spirit consume two people after ordering the man to "Wipe that smile off your face. You're still smiling..." And she was relieved she hadn't accepted the gold. After that, she ran after Chihiro, who'd decided to get to the top floor by the outside. Clumsy she may have been, but she was finding some hidden bravery inside her.
Arya was quicker, so she caught up with Chihiro easily, and saw the pipe she was planning to walk across to get to the ladder. "Follow my lead." she instructed the younger girl, balancing on the pipe and reaching the ladder quickly. Chihiro ran across, and the pipe nearly broke off the building, but she was safe.
Luckily, they reached the top without getting caught, but they ended up in an ornate bathroom and then, in desparation, eneded up in an elaborate playroom.
"Yubaba's baby must be in here somewhere." Arya whispered.
They could hear Yubaba talking on the phone. "All right, don't let him eat anyone else til' I get down here."
"The masked dude ate two people." whispered Arya.
But Chihiro was more interested in Yubaba's next words when she put the phone down. "Haku is bleeding all over the carpet. Get him out of here, he'll be dead soon anyway."
The girls had to hide in the nursery, too, since Yubaba went in to check on her baby. Chihiro dived into a stack of cushions, while Arya hid behind the canopied bed. Just Chihiro's luck that the baby was actually hidden under the cushions. Yubaba didn't find her, but the minute she was gone and the girls emerged, a hand shot out and pulled Chihiro back. Arya instantly dived into the cushions with her sister and both girls were soon staring into the face of a giant baby.
"Ow, let go of me!" Chihiro cried.
"Let her go!" Arya said supportively.
"You came in here to make me sick." the baby accused. "You're bad germs from outside, aren't you?"
Arya scowled. "We're not germs, we're humans. Shut up and let my sister go!"
In answer, the baby grabbed Arya's arm with the hand that wasn't wrapped around Chihiro's wrist.
"You'll get sick if you go outside." the baby said, very seriously. "So stay here and play with me."
"We'd love to, but we can't right now!" Arya insisted.
"You won't get sick if you go outside." Chihiro argued.
"Yes, you will." the baby insisted. "That's why I've never left this room."
"Staying in this room is what'll make you sick!" Chihiro answered. Their parents had always encouraged them to get some fresh air every day. "Listen, someone very important to me is terribly hurt."
"We need to help him before anything else." Arya finished. "Please let go of us!"
"If you go, I'll cry," the baby threatened, "And Mama will hear me and Mama will come in here and kill you." His grip on the girls tightened. "Play with me or I'll break your arm."
"We'll play with you later!" Arya suggested. "Just let go of us."
"No, I wanna play now!"
Chihiro thought for a moment, then showed her blood-stained hand to the baby. "Germs, I've got germs, see?"
The baby instantly let go of both girls and started wailing, so they ran for it, flying straight to Haku's side, although Yubaba's three green heads were trying to push him into a pit. Chihiro was talking the whole time, asking "Haku, are you okay? Can you hear me?" Arya was silent, but she knelt by Haku and her affectionate actions proved her concern.
But then, the baby walked out. "I'm not afraid of germs." he said defiantly. "If you don't play with me, I'll cry."
"Please don't cry, just wait!" Chihiro pleaded. Arya ignored the baby. Yubaba was downstairs, as she knew. She was leaning over Haku, trying to see if she could do anything for his injuries. Yubaba's bird that had her face was trying to attack her, but she ignored that too.
"Right now," the baby insisted, "Or I'll start crying..." he burst into tears, but suddenly, the paper bird that had attached itself to Chihiro flew off and flew up to the baby's face.
"What a spoilt brat!" a familiar voice said to it. "Shut your big mouth!" Suddenly, out of the bird appeared a slightly transparent figure that was the spitting image of Yubaba. She checked herself, frowning. "Still see-through."
"Mama?" the baby whispered.
The clone glared at him. "Can't you even tell me from your own mother?" She clicked her fingers and the baby turned into a mouse. "There, your body matches your brain." Then she turned the bird into a fly and the three green heads into the baby's clone. Then she noticed the girls. "This'll be our little secret." she told them, brightly adding "Tell anyone else and I'll rip your mouth out."
"Who are you?" the girls asked together.
"Zeniba, I'm Yubaba's twin sister." the witch answered. She explained that Haku had supposedly stolen her golden magic seal, and she wanted it back. In addition, there was a spell that killed anyone who stole the seal.
The girls found this hard to believe. Arya raised an eyebrow, while Chihiro said out loud "Haku wouldn't steal! He's a good person!"
Zeniba argued this point, too. "Do you know why he became my sister's apprentice? To steal her magic secrets, and now he's stolen my magic too."
As she spoke, the baby-turned-mouse scrambled up onto Arya's shoulder with the bird-turned-fly, and then Haku smashed his tail against the origami bird Zeniba's form came from. She broke in half and faded away. "Ow, a paper cut..."
The girls were still hanging onto Haku as he fell into the pit they were beside.
But as they fell, they were practically riding on the dragon (in an innocent way). Halfway through, Haku dove up, and they ended up in the boiler room. But as that had happened, memories had flown through Chihiro's and Arya's minds. Chihiro had remembered something white and turquoise, being underwater, but it hadn't surfaced properly. Arya remembered more clearly something white and a river, but all she remembered about it was sitting on the bank, with her legs dangling so that they were submerged to her mid-calves. The girls remembered Haku was connected to them, but they didn't remember where the images came from, or how they were connected with the dragon.
Yeah, as you suspected, Arya knows Haku too, but he doesn't remember her so much because she didn't fall in the way Chihiro did. Please review!