A Second Glance

Haku

… … … …

"Sen. We're going to dock soon."

The hull of the boat was quiet, almost deafeningly so compared to the rest of the ferry's rooms, Rin observed. She slid the door closed behind her with a quiet click, her eyes drawn to the reclining figure that was Chihiro. This group of gods Rin had been tending to was a rowdy one next to the usually silent and dignified crowd. Sai was still in one of the upper rooms, waiting on an older tree spirit that had taken to her when it saw she was kindred.

Rin gazed at Chihiro intently, looking for any sign that she had heard her, and sighed. Slowly, she leaned back against the door and slipped to the floor. That girl had changed so much since she had met her, appearance and personality together. Right now, looking at her, Rin had no idea what Chihiro could be thinking. A guilty sort of disappointment came with that. She was disappointed that Chihiro had grown and changed so much without her knowing, disappointed with herself for not having seen that change for herself, or maybe for not having prevented it. After knowing her so well for the time that Chihiro had spent in their world, it was depressing to see her so different. Still, Rin was sure she had seen a glimmer of what Chihiro used to be when she cried on her shoulder outside the old red tower.

And how she had cried! It made her blood boil thinking about whatever had made her cry like that. It was a sisterly instinct that kept her wanting to be close to Chihiro ever since she met her, and it was this abnormality between a human and a spirit that made her want to punish whatever could hurt the young girl so. But first, she had to get her back to the Aburaya. Then Rin would ask questions.

"Sen?" She looked away finally and set her eyes on the floor.

"Mm?" Chihiro was still watching the lantern swinging, transfixed by the light. After the boat had calmed down some, it almost felt as though she was being rocked in a cradle, putting her in an eerily peaceful mood.

"I…You know, we all really missed you. Everyone thought you were gone for good after you left like that." Rin paused to look back at Chihiro. She closed her eyes. "I mean… it was all great that you saved your parents and got away from Yubaba, but after everyone calmed down and things went back to normal…I dunno, it was just kinda lonely."

The ferry swayed slowly, lulling Rin into the same silence that had come over Chihiro. At some point during the ride, the weather had turned stormy, which was rare for the river. She couldn't remember the last time that had happened, but then again, it had been a very long time since she had last left Aburaya. At least the boat had stopped tossing so violently. That was probably why the passengers were so rowdy this time, she thought.

"I tried to come back…" Rin opened her eyes to see Chihiro still staring at the dancing light. "I really tried, I did. I got lonely too."

"It's okay, kid. No harm done. It's not like anybody's going anywhere, anyway." She paused for a moment, thinking. "'Cept, maybe in. People come to work at the Aburaya, and not many of them ever leave. And you know, it's funny, cause the spirit plains are a lot bigger than you think they are. That's a lot of places to not go to."

Rin sat for a moment, contemplating what she had said. She really could have gone somewhere after Chihiro had left. She had saved up enough money for it and felt inspired enough to leave, but she could never bring herself to try and ask Yu-Baaba. The Aburaya was comfortable to a certain extent, and as time went by, her inspiration faded.

Just as she was reflecting on this, the door behind her suddenly opened up and the boat tilted, sending her flat on her back halfway into the hallway.

"oofh. Aw, dammit Sai!"

Chihiro sat up quickly to see what had happened, and burst out laughing. Rin was sprawled out in the doorway, making no effort to get up, and Sai was peeking down at her from around the corner, looking as timid as ever. She had probably just started working at the bathhouse and wasn't used to everything yet, Chihiro reasoned. She had the appearance of a lost chick, her wide eyes and small stature adding to the look.

"Ya coulda knocked at least!" Rin propped herself up on her elbows and then laughed, too.

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry Sai. Don't gimme that look."

The child sized spirit looked down at Rin and gave her a small smile. "One of the frogs told me to let you know we're almost at the dock. He said he wants you off the boat first so that the gods don't have to see the human."

"Right, I thought about that. We're gonna go by a passage under the bridge, okay?" She said to Chihiro quickly. "We'll have to take the back alleyway's first, and then we can go underground from there. Oh yeah, Sai, you're gonna have to get over to the baths in section B as soon as you get there. I got a friend to fill in for us while we're out here."

Sai nodded quickly, then grabbed onto the doorway as the boat came to a sudden stop.

"C'mon guys, lets do this quick."

Chihiro soon found herself following Rin down a hallway and up a staircase, and then off the ferry by a gangplank secured by translucent ropes. They walked up the stone stairs briskly at a pace set by Rin's long legs, and then went around the back of a building off to the left, avoiding the restaurants. The tall grass tickled Chihiro's sock-less legs, leaving them damp with the early morning dew that was beginning to settle. A stone staircase presented sitself further up the path, mimicking the one that passed through the marketplace. Chihiro stopped on the third stair while Rin and Sai continued on, unknowing.

She could see it from there, the Aburaya. It was a breathtaking sight. Just the very top of the building was peeking over the restaurants before her, the smokestack billowing black smoke into the faintly lit sky. It was so hard for Chihiro to comprehend that the place she had been longing for for almost six years was now in sight. Far off to the left of the Aburaya, something glistened in the sky and then disappeared. Her thoughts shot back to the dream catcher. She shook her head and looked back to the winding staircase where Sai could be seen rounding a corner into the shadows. A feeling Chihiro couldn't interpret welled up in her chest. Ignoring it, she ran to catch up to the others.

… … … …

Yubaba paced her office gleefully, checking the windows that looked out over the Aburaya grounds every few minutes. This was the moment she had been waiting for. Yes, this was an opportunity that she thought would never come, one where she could regain her other half of the bathhouse back and make that silly little dragon fall back to her feet where he belonged. Well, not that he was particularly silly, or little even, for the dragon's powers would soon surpass her own at the rate he was going. But, that was something she would never admit to anyone. She was becoming desperate to regain control over Haku, and the return of that human Chihiro was something that could help her on her way.

She picked up the skull that served as a phone to the foreman's desk and gave the frogs there directions to post guards at the end of the new bridge into the Aburaya. After that scene when Chihiro first came to the bathhouse, Yubaba had been planning another passage into the Aburaya for the workers to use so that they wouldn't get in the way of the incoming Gods. What a mess that day had been! After that human had passed over the bridge, some of the gods refused to even walk over it before it was cleansed. The frogs who tried to clean it got in the way of the spirits that would pass, and Yubaba had lost more money than she gained that day. What bunch of complainers the high class could be. Gossipers, too. They had to be appeased some way, or the steady cash flow into the bathhouse would dwindle while rumors of a badly kept business would swell and multiply. It was an easy solution to have a staircase and tunnel carved down into the ground so that it would come out underneath the big red bridge. The entrance was hidden behind one of the restaurants, so that the hole wouldn't be so conspicuous. A cheap rope bridge with wooden planks connected the dirt tunnel to an entrance into the basements of the Aburaya. Now only the gods and spirits rich enough to sojourn at the bathhouse would cross the bridge, and it became a sort of symbol of power and holiness. The working class became even lower in the view of the gods after this.

The human would see that there were only gods on the bridge and find her way in with the workers, Yubaba knew that. Chihiro would either get help or figure it out herself. She was a feisty girl, though her actions had never made sense to the selfish witch. It was probably just that human curiosity that always had her trying to get near to Haku. But, the dragon had taken some kind of interest in her because of this. He had no debt to her by spirit law because he had saved Chihiro's life before she returned his name, but, Yubaba knew he would do close to anything to see her again. This was another thing she couldn't understand. The girl was only human; Haku shouldn't have had any business with her past her repaying him. But this was of no matter, as long as Yu-Baaba got what she wanted out of each of them.

The witch continued to pace her office happily, scheming out plans of what to do to Chihiro that would make Haku forego his claim on half the bathhouse.

… … … …

The gardens were a calm place to be in the middle of the day, but by night they were as busy as any other place in the mahou no sekai. Spirits went to and fro picking flowers for arrangements in the bathhouse, watering, pruning, and generally bustling about. Haku passed by without even looking at it, trying to find a quiet place to be (other than his office). Why he had thought to go to the gardens was beyond him. Of course there would people in the gardens during night, though he only realized this as the blooming bushes came into view. He continued walking without thought, heading towards the restaurants. The streets were crowded with spirits selling food from stalls and lines of people waiting to get into the restaurants. A few frogs running with packages for the Aburaya went by him, stopping quickly enough to give Haku a bow and then continue on their way. It seemed that wherever he went, people were bowing to him. It bothered him a little, all the false politeness because of his power. The only people that called him anything but Haku-sama anymore were Yubaba and Rin, the latter in the habit of dropping honorifics with just about anyone. Yubaba only showed respect when speaking to her customers or visiting gods, trying to make a good enough impression that they would come back, and maybe with friends. She was clearly not trying to make a good impression on Haku.

All the different scents of food and spirits mingled in the balmy night air, accenting the din of the market place and setting Haku on edge. This wasn't what he had come outside for, he thought in disgust, turning away from the sight of the lower gods and spirits gorging themselves greedily. This was where the less dignified ate, those who weren't rich enough for the Aburaya's grand meals and extravagant baths. The equivalent of spirit tourists mixed in the crowd, some more visible than others, their gaudy clothing and jewelry juxtaposed with the traditional garb worn by spirits of that area. A group of them headed towards Haku, talking up a storm while they meandered the maze of restaurants. Wanting to avoid the crowd he had somehow gotten himself into, Haku quietly slipped through one of the back alleys.

Once he was on the pathway behind the restaurants, he let himself relax. The noise of the crowd was muffled back there, though the scent of the god's food remained, blocking out everything else. Things like that bothered Haku. As a dragon, he had relied on scent and hearing more so than sight. It had been thirteen years or so since he had assumed the human form he was now in as his static body, and still he had the twitchy urge to get away from anything that blocked his senses like that, even if it posed no danger. It was always relaxing to revert to his dragon form and fly the night skies, but there were so many things for him to do now, and it seemed the longer he stayed where he was, the more complicated things got.

Relaxing. That's what it was. No matter where he was anymore, Haku hardly had the time to relax. The walk through the Aburaya's grounds was useful in that it made him realize how needed the Aburaya actually was. Spirits were always bustling around, doing something. The Aburaya gave them an excuse to relax themselves and get rid of all the stress they built up. Haku knew what was actually in the bathwater, so the baths had no appeal to him; the herbs were mostly for scent rather than to really clean or improve a spirits health, and he knew just how often a bath worker would slack off in cleaning, letting grime and other disgusting things collect in the tubs.

Haku was tired of being near all the noise and people. Thankfully, the crowds would die down soon and the sun would come up, and the world would be almost silent. He threw his head back unexpectedly and narrowed his eyes, as if examining the sky. In a wild burst of energy that circulated Haku in a whirlwind, he exploded into the air, silvery green scales streamlining his sleek body. It was comfortable like this, flying aimlessly. He felt so much more himself as a dragon. Hours could pass when he flew, and Haku would hardly notice, but that was alright for now.

The sky was mostly clear, and the weather was perfect. A steady wind pressed at him from behind, letting him drift forward with no effort. Haku coasted the air currents over the spirit plains aimlessly until the sun reached the brim of the horizon and the sky was tinted orange. Slowly, he made his way back to the Aburaya and circled it, hearing parts of mumbled conversation from inside. People were going to bed now. His ears were keen enough to pick up things from a mile away if he felt like listening in, which had made him a good spy for Yubaba. Back then he hadn't cared. Nothing mattered for so long after he lost his river, but now…now there were people to protect. There were other spirits who had felt loss too, ones like the little tree spirit Sai. Haku knew it was a just matter of time before Yubaba found out he was giving part time jobs to spirits like that, but it was those things that were important to him now. Keeping the workers paid correctly when Yubaba was always trying to scam them out of their money, not making spirits like Sai work full time when they were still mourning, while they were still trying to get used to the fact part of them had died – those were the things he really cared about. He knew what it was like.

Tiny water particles stuck to Haku's scales as he passed through a cloud, glistening in the early morning light. He shook himself in a very doglike manner, starting from the tail, sending water in every direction. The sun caught the sudden rain in its rays, making it seem like an explosion of silver in the sky. Haku shot over the market place again, twisting and turning as he flew.

The streets had emptied out in the few hours he had been flying, and were now completely silent. He could hear small sparrows scraping around in the crumbs left by the messier of customers, chirping and scratching at the ground. And then…

"C'mon Sen, catch up, you can sightsee later. We've gotta get you in there and with a job, or you know what'll happen."

Haku's eyes widened and he dropped a few feet. His ears couldn't be playing tricks on him, he couldn't be imagining it.

Sen. Chihiro. Her name echoed in his mind, canceling out everything else. Haku took a moment to pinpoint where the voice had come from.

It was Rin he had heard down there, on the pathway behind the restaurants where he had just been earlier than night. He flew straight down and transformed in midair, dropping the last five feet and landing on all fours in a catlike position. The buildings and trees passed by in a blur as he ran silently to catch up with them, to see her.

And all of a sudden, there she was. Chihiro was walking with Rin and Sai towards the Aburaya, looking even stranger than she had when she came to the spirit world, her short skirt and sailor blouse standing out terrifically next to the Aburaya uniforms. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to talk to her or even make himself known. Thousands of thoughts barraged his mind. What was she doing here, anyway? Why was she back in the kamikakushi, and how could she have even found her way to the gates? What about her parents? How long was she going to stay? She hardly looked like the same person she was when she saved him, humans grow so fast. Haku couldn't see her face from where he was, and wondered just how different she looked.

But there was one question that stood out among all the others – what if she didn't remember everything? It would be unbearable if she had forgotten him, if she didn't know just how much she meant to him. And so, Haku found himself following behind the three of them at a safe distance, amazed at what was happening.

She was back. Chihiro. Haku definitely wasn't bored anymore.

… … … …

A/N- Well look how long that took! Oh well, at least I haven't quit. I have so much more of an idea, & I have a little plot thing going and everything! I'm excited for this. Please review, reading them makes me so happy. I love getting input, that's why I started posting my story; I want to know just what people think of my writing. Thank you!