~Vaster than the Sea, Wider than the Sky~

Disclaimer: The characters in this fanfiction belong to Studio Ghibli. Copyright infringement is not intended.

Thank you for the reviews! I apologize in advance for the multi-strand narrative. This chapter seems very... episodic... which is a weird word to describe it, but there it is.

It was night over the spirit realms by the time he reached Zeniba's place by the marshes and small lights were dancing along the fringe of it, the aura of little woodland spirits on their way to some forest gathering. It must be late already. Alighting softly on the front lawn, he spotted No Face peeking out of the open window. Nodding to the strange creature, he opened the door. Zeniba was seated on her rocking chair, surrounded by bundles of wool. "You're late," she grunted knitting busily. "Dinner's on the table."

Looking up moments later, she was annoyed to see that he hadn't moved. "What?"

"Aren't you going to ask how it went?"

"Huh!"

He smiled. "You said Fujimoto-san wouldn't agree."

"I wrote him that letter didn't I?"

"Only because I asked you very politely," he said as he lifted the cover and inspected his dinner. Peas and potatoes. She was definitely mad at him. He speared one of the tiny green spheres doubtfully. Zeniba was staring at him goadingly. Seeing her look, he popped it into his mouth innocently. Zeniba sniffed, her needles clicking their disapproval. "Since when have you gotten this cheeky?"

"You always make that complain whenever I don't do what you say," he retorted mildly as he nibbled a potato. Good grief. It was raw. He ate it anyway. The needles stopped their racket and he heard her sigh. "You'll be leaving soon then."

"At the end of the week, to be exact."

"Good. Good. That gives me a little more time…" she tapered off, peering at him with bright eyes and resumed her knitting.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "For having me all these years."

She snorted loudly. "Don't sound like you're never coming back here, child. I've a few things more yet to teach you."

He chuckled. "Yes ma'am."

He'd been dreaming about that night again. Was it an omen? Had it been a bad choice on his part to relocate to Fujimoto's residence? Leaning out of the bedside window, he watched as the waning moon sailed overhead slowly, the water of the unfamiliar sea glimmering. Everything was as it should be and he wondered if he was merely paranoid or simply unused to this new location after 5 years of mollycoddling by Zeniba and an even longer stretch under Yubaba? It had been awhile since he'd been free to do what he wanted. While Zeniba had been kind, he'd been moving to her pace all this while and he did miss his own home even if it didn't quite exist anymore and yearly faded even more distantly.

He pushed open the door to his room softly, careful not to wake his hosts and padded downstairs. The second step from the top creaked when he stepped on it and he tensed for a moment. However, as the drone of snores continued undisturbed from the other two occupants of the house, his exit from the house went unnoticed. Climbing down the cliffs to its grass-fringed edge, he looked down into the crashing waves, closed his eyes for a second as he drank in its wild, untamed energy.

"Good morning ambassador," a musical voice said. Haku's eyes immediately snapped open and he looked about. A tall woman with streaming red hair was sitting on the cliff edge, dressed in a simple light blue shift, the string of oval-shaped gems gleaming at her throat her only jewellery. He found himself having to concentrate on not recoiling from the impossibly bright aura she was giving off. "Granmamare," he greeted respectfully, bowing from the waist up. She smiled. "There is no need to be so polite. We're all friends here."

She looked up to the cottage, only partially visible from where they were. "I see that Fujimoto is still asleep." She gave a little sigh and then smiled at him. "Are you well here?"

"Very much."

"And my daughter. I hope she hasn't been too much of a nuisance."

"Oh no," Haku answered hastily. One did not offend the gods. "She's been very well-behaved."

The goddess of the sea was gazing back out over the water and she nodded. "That is very good. I was hoping you would like it here."

"…hoping?" he repeated warily. To his knowledge, no one else except the Wizard's Council knew about his arrangement. The Granmamare chuckled, briefly revealing the mischievous streak which Ponyo had clearly inherited. "I had the feeling you were meant to be here," she said cryptically as she rose gracefully from her precarious perch. "I hope you enjoy your stay, and good luck with the dragons. Tell the Ryu-shi I said hello."

Tell the Ryu-shi I said hello… Haku smiled in the wake of the large wave crashing against the shore. "Well that's something," he said aloud.

"I can assure you that the Council has nothing to do with your loss," Haku repeated for what felt like the umpteenth time. If the wizards had been difficult, the dragons were worse. The youngest member of the Dragon Master's court was at least half a millennia older than he was, and to them, he knew he must appear a young upstart who didn't know his place.

"Indeed, that is your word for it. Our sources say something different," Master Shinano wheezed ponderously.

Master Yamazaki smirked. Smoothing down her cherry blossom embroidered robes, she bared her teeth unpleasantly. "You are still young Kohaku-chan. There are…things which may have escaped your notice." She gazed about the room, appealing to her audience. "Perhaps we should not fault him too much. His upbringing has been… rather tied to an old lady's apron strings," she coughed as several of the courtiers tittered. Haku gritted his teeth.

"You are not so young yourself, Yamazaki-gawa-san. There are things which a master of your rank and venerability may have overlooked, being as you have implied, concerned with loftier perspectives far above others."

"Are you insinuating that I would let my precious invention escape?"

Haku lowered his eyes modestly. "It is not in my position, youthful as I am, to understand if your failing eyesight might have been a cause for concern, especially when dealing with items of such a minuscule nature."

As the dragon lord gulped in indignation, the Ryu-shi raised his hand, his jade-green eyes frowning under slender black brows. "That is quite enough."

"My lord Ryu-shi," Haku spoke again, interrupting the lesser dragon lord's protests. "The Wizard's Council has a proven track record of peaceful negotiations with practitioners of magic of many races and species. They would hardly wish to steal from the dragons."

A portly dragon on the Ryu-shi's left snorted in a way that Haku felt was strangely reminiscent of Master Gen. "A wizard's promise!" he growled sarcastically, which Haku took the dragon to mean as an insult.

"You may be too young to recall," another dragon spoke softly, "of our war with the Council which you spoke so highly of."

"That is precisely why we must be on our guard against them. I've heard that quite a bit today," Master Fuji said, her clear voice ringing impatiently across the large conference hall. They were in the Dragon Lord's main residence under Lake Biwa and several of the lesser spirits winced as her irritation washed over them.

"Do you propose something else then, Fuji-sama?" Master Yamazaki sniffed.

"I certainly propose some element of civility, which has been sorely lacking from this conference," she replied coldly. "As hosts, we should set the mood."

"If we allowed you to set the mood, Fuji-san, why, the discussions would proceed like one of those human's inhumanly fast trains," Master Yamazaki replied sweetly with a toss of her elegantly coiffed head.

"Quiet."

The one word from the Dragon Lord was enough to quell the others,accompanied as it was, by his crackling aura. He leaned forward, one pale hand propping his chin lazily as he surveyed the room with an almost careless gaze. Almost – for the Ryu-shi didn't rank as one of the spirit world's most important leaders without reason. "Fuji is correct. We could do with less absurd insults. What I want to know, Kohaku, is what you would use to vouch for your word for the wizards."

"My life."

There was a murmur around the court.

The Ryu-shi stared at him, seizing him up even as he appeared distractingly to lounge into his massive throne, his olive and green robes rustling. "Too easily offered, coming from someone who has written it away before. What else have you?"

"Ryu-shi-sama!"

He flapped a hand in Master Fuji's direction. "I know, I know. I'm being greedy."

Master Fuji flushed under her fair hair. "I didn't mean it that way," she muttered.

"Things are different now," Haku said. "It was a decision which I did not make easily."

"Hmm." The Ryu-shi droned, unimpressed. "Perhaps the life of one of your friends, then, can be thrown into the bargain."

He shuffled the papers on the table, his slight frown clearing when a water sprite handed to him a roll of paper. "Your details, as much as my spies could make out. It's hardly appropriate of course, but you'll agree that it isn't sensible to conduct business without investigating the other party," the Ryu-shi said as he unrolled the scroll. "There is this human child… Sen is it?"

Haku could feel panic mounting. "This doesn't involve her," he snapped and then instantly regretted his hastiness. The Ryu-shi smirked.

"No, no, of course not. How could it?"

How had they found out about her? If Yubaba had anything to do with this… Haku quashed that thought. It would not do for him to start doubting the Council now.

"That's playing dirty," a new voice added its opinion to the fray. As everyone looked about to see who had spoken, there were surprised yelps in the audience by the hall's double doors, where a small figure stood. The ground around him steamed faintly and the nearest assorted water spirits were leaning mightily away from him with scandalised expressions. Akihi grinned, waving once he caught Haku's attention. The young dragon looked nonplussed and Akihi couldn't resist chuckling lightly. "A human's word may be good but surely the word of a Council member would be better?"

Water, water everywhere. She shivered, hugging her arms close to herself. Where was she? What was this place? Looking up, she saw what she took at first to be white, green and blue streamers flying in the sky, caught in the gale. Then she realised what they were.

Dragons.

One of them tore itself away from the herd, twisting and turning as it drifted over towards her, its teal coloured fur and pale scales glittering. Then, with a snarl, it turned aside, blown away. She watched it go, feeling a pit form in her stomach.

I feel sad. Why?

As the gale blew away, Chihiro was aware that a small ferret was sitting by her, its long white tail curled around her ankles as it peered at her out of liquid black eyes. "Interesting. You can't put a name to what you want."

"I don't understand… Who are you?"

"My maker didn't give me a name."

"What do you want?"

The ferret-like creature blinked slowly. "No one has asked me that before."

"I am now," Chihiro answered, bending down to chuck the creature under its chin. It purred. "Ooh. This is nice."

Chihiro smiled. "Glad to be of assistance. Is there anything else I can help with?"

The ferret uncurled its tail, which it waved thoughtfully. "I suppose you could help me decide on a name."

"Ok."

"I have a title. I'm called the Enabler of a Thousand Desires."

"Phew. That's long for a title."

"Precisely. You would think the idiot dragon which made me would have an ounce of sense…"

"I don't think I quite follow."

The ferret made a whuffing sound and Chihiro realised it has just snorted at her. "Sorry," she added.

"It's no matter. Come on, come on, help me think of a name already."

"Umm. How about Sen? It comes from your title, so it won't be something too unfamiliar."

The ferret preened, evidently pleased. "It's short. I like it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I should like to return the favour now, but until you figure out what you desire most, I don't think I can."

"It's really alright."

"Nonsense. It's important that debts are repaid." It considered her for a moment, scanning the empty sky above them. It was night, a few stars scattered between the clouds. "Hmm. I suppose I better stick with you then, till you remember what it is you desire. It beats going back to them. I hate having to sit so still on a shelf all day."

Chihiro woke to the sound of birds outside at her window. Yawning sleepily, she imagined for a moment that she was still at home. There had been birds there too, come to scour for stray crumbs. Then she remembered where she was, and she sighed happily, stretching luxuriously. Her first day had been unexpectedly eventful as she ran about at the beck and call of old ladies at the nursing home. She remembered in particular, the imperious orders of a Mrs Fuji, an onerous lady and chuckled. There was a soft knock on her door. "Chihiro-chan? Are you awake?"

"Yeah," she answered, sitting up rapidly as Risa opened the door. "That's good. I've to leave for work…" she gasped suddenly. "What is that thing on your bed?"

Looking at where she was pointing, Chihiro stared at the furry white creature at the foot of the bed. It hadn't been there went she crawled in the night before. "I-I've no idea."

"Scat! Shoo!" Risa yelled as the small animal rose, it's back arched as it hissed. Then, it jumped off the bed, skittered on the floor and scrambled out of the window.

"I'm so sorry," Risa apologised. "Are you alright? Did it bite you?"

"No, I'm fine," Chihiro answered reassuringly, her interest already diverted to the window which Risa was in the middle of shutting.

"Funny. This has never happened before all these years I've lived here. I wonder what kind of animal it was. A cat maybe?"

She looked at her young guest sitting up on bed, her hands lightly clasped in front of her as she looked outside the window longingly. Then she turned suddenly to her and smiled. "Maybe it was a ferret."

"A ferret?" Risa echoed. "Maybe somebody's pet escaped," she added and then looking at her watch, groaned suddenly. "I'm going to be late!"

Breakfast had been laid out when Chihiro finally emerged, dressed and washed from her bedroom. As she picked up a piece of toast, Sousuke clattered in, and then seeing her, froze.

"Ohaiyo," she greeted cheerfully. This was probably Risa's son.

"O-Ohaiyo," Sousuke gulped, looking wary. Chihiro lifted up the jug, still smiling. "Would you like some…" she started to say but Sousuke had dashed away again.

Chihiro stared at the empty doorway. Eh… Was he shy or something? Taking up a plate of toast, she wandered back outside. Sunlight streamed in over the brightly decorated sitting room, the clock ticking slowly on the wall, its mechanism loud in the empty room. Deciding to sit by the window, Chihiro had closed her eyes for a second when she heard whispering outside.

"Shh…"

"But why?"

"Ponyo! She'll hear us."

"Who? Is it a bad person?"

"Er. No… I don't think so."

"Then why can't she hear it?"

They were squatting by the bush under the window when Chihiro leaned out to look. Sousuke's face immediately took on a paler hue but Ponyo jumped up eagerly. "Hello! My name's Ponyo!" she announced. Chihiro grinned, propping her chin with one elbow. "That's an…interesting name. Did you choose it yourself?"

"Sousuke gave it to me!" she chirped before noticing the toast on the sill. "Can I have some?" she asked, her attention instantaneously diverted. "Ok," Chihiro said, making the mistake which just about everybody had by leaving open the number of slices Ponyo could take and she blanched when the little girl snatched the entire stack, leaving only the half eaten one on top. Sousuke hastily snatched back some from her and returned it to the older girl. Ponyo glared at him, but he pretended not to have seen. Instead, he watched anxiously to see how Chihiro would react. To his surprise, her shoulders were quaking with laughter and she patted Ponyo (busy chewing a piece of toast) fondly before winking at Sousuke.

"She's like a cat!"

Much to Haku's chagrin, Akihi was stretched out on the guest bed like an oversized feline. His guest bed, to be particular. "Why don't you go back to your own room?" he all but growled from where he was drafting a letter to the Council. The fair haired fire spirit sighed blissfully, lazily opening one eye. "But you have the better room." Haku looked at him sternly, and then gave up. Akihi was technically senior in abilities and rank, though in the Ryu-shi's palace, Haku clearly had the advantage – the very air was heavy with moisture which he could certainly manipulate in should he decide to start a duel. Sighing wearily, he turned back to his letter and knocked over the inkwell. As he stood up, black ink dripping from the tips of his fingers, Akihi rose swiftly, coming to stand beside him.

"Wait," he said sharply. "You aren't the careless type. It's a sign. Let's see what it means."

Divination by ink. Haku had heard that it could be done, though he'd never seen anyone do it before. Akihi stood with his arms folded as he leaned close to inspect the design which had formed over the ruined letter. All trace of his initial sloth had disappeared as he frowned intensely at the black whorls. Haku looked as well. "What is it? Some kind of animal?"

Akihi peered at it and then back up at him, an embarrassed smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I personally think it looks like a ten course buffet breakfast." When the dragon stared in disbelief at him, Akihi snorted. "Sorry. I think I might be hungry. Being here really saps my energy. It appears to me to be a sort of rodent. Any idea what that might mean to you?"

Haku gazed at the liquid which had finally collected as a still pool. The last drops were sliding off his fingers already. "No. None whatsoever."

Notes: I will once again, be out of the country. Goodness. I can't believe how much I'm spending. Going to Spain this time, for a fortnight or so. No updates for a while again I'm afraid -.-"