Disclaimer: I only own Miedo right now. Oh, never mind, I own Kenji, too... I forgot.

Notes: Beware of the fluff... And I hope this chapter will be pretty long.

Miedo walked through the hallways that Kamaji told her about. Lost, she sighed exasperatedly, walking to a nearby frog to ask for help.

"You just go up the stairs for two floors, then take a right at the fountain, go left when you pass the third door, and take the elevator up another floor. From there you walk straight until you come to two big doors. That's where you will find Haku-sama." he said, recognizing her from an earlier meeting when Chihiro had introduced them.

Miedo closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, warding off a headache. She was never good with directions. "I'm sorry," she said to him, "Could you repeat that?"

The frog saw her obvious distress and said, "Hold on one moment." He disappeared into another door and came out with a boy about Miedo's age. "This is Kenji. He'll escort you to the Haku-sama and back,"

Miedo smiled and held out her hand. "Nice to meet you, Kenji. My name's Miedo."

He arched an eyebrow and stared hard at her with his almost silver eyes, taking in every little detail. Apparently deciding that she was worth his speech, he took her hand and said, "Hi, Miedo. Follow me."

Without letting go of her hand, Kenji led her through all the twists and turns of the huge bath house. At first she was a little wary of his cold attitude, but the warmth of his hand and how gently he held hers convinced her otherwise.

About ten minutes later, a time Miedo would never have achieved on her own, the two reached the double doors. Kenji released her hand and waited outside. "You're not coming with me?" she asked nervously.

"No." he answered simply, idly twirling a piece of his long blond hair around his index finger.

'Wait... What am I nervous about? From what Chihiro said about him, he's really nice!'

Miedo said, "Oh... Alright then." and smiled at Kenji before walking through the elegant looking doors and into a smaller room with a set of normal looking doors.

Deciding that this was the one that would let her enter the room, Miedo knocked. A young man's voice told her to come in. Timidly, but with a big smile on her face, she opened the door and bowed to the figure standing before her, even though he could not see it. He was apparently looking out the window into the black night.

Then, he turned around. His shining, emerald green eyes glittered in the dimly, yet warmly lit room, and when they laid upon Miedo they widened slightly. "You're a human..." he said.

"Ummm... Yeah. As human as I'll ever be, I guess. Are you Haku-sama?"

"Yes. Did Kamaji send you here for a job?" Haku asked with a smile.

"Uh-huh," Miedo answered. "He's the boiler man with six arms, right?" she asked, trying to sound like she didn't know the place.

Haku nodded. "What is your name?"

"Miedo."

"Miedo, huh? Well, I have a job for you. You're sure you want to stay, right? I won't keep you against your will."

"I'm sure, Haku-sama." she said with an air of confidence.

He smiled and made a motion with his hand to someone else in the room, who understood and stepped into the light. "This is Lin. You will work with her. If you have any problems with anyone then come to me and I'll take care of it, alright?" Haku asked, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Miedo looked at Lin, who smiled and gave her a look that said, "Tell him now."

She nodded in understanding and gestured for Haku to bend down to her height. After whispering something in his ear, he straightened and Miedo giggled, as did Lin. "You're serious?" he asked, his emerald eyes wide.

Miedo and Lin both nodded excitedly. Suddenly, the window opened with a huge gust of wind and he was gone. Miedo ran to it and looked out at the vast space below her, then at the white serpentine dragon flying through the sky. "See?" Lin said, "I told you he'd run off on you."

"Uh, Lin?"

"Yeah?"

"Haku is... a dragon?!" Miedo asked excitedly.

"Yep. Chihiro didn't tell you that?"

Miedo shook her head, still watching.

As Haku flew, he spotted the bridge and landed silently. Seeing the figure next to the railing, he changed back and could only stare in wonder. This was Chihiro, the Chihiro that he hadn't seen in over four years... The girl that was so cowardly came back to the place that she so feared back then.

He shook off the shock and instead walked over to her sleeping figure, leaning down and pulling her tightly to his chest. "Chihiro, why did you come back?"

She stirred in his arms and her eyes fluttered open. Recognizing whose arms she was in, her heart rate quickened and she blushed a light shade of pink. "Haku?" she asked.

"Why did you come back?" he repeated.

Chihiro pulled away and looked into his eyes, the emerald green eyes that had plastered themselves in her mind for four long years. She started tearing up and threw her arms around his neck. "I missed you so much!! My parents are mean to me, school sucks, and my life was boring at home! I just wanted to see you again, Haku, and stay here... I don't care if I have to work, I just want to stay here forever!" She then broke into sobs and Haku caught the scent of her tears.

He held her close and whispered comforting words in her ear. "You don't have to worry anymore, Chihiro... You're here with me and all your friends from before, no one can turn into pigs anymore, and Yubaba is gone. There's nothing to hurt or upset you here. If anything ever tries to hurt you, you know I'll protect you, just like I did before."

"I know," Chihiro said and sniffed, "That's why I'm happy to be back..."

All was quiet for a moment before Haku let go of her and smiled. "So, who's Miedo? A human friend of yours?"

Chihiro wiped away her tears and nodded. "My only human friend. Everyone else thought I was a weirdo, but I didn't really care. They're not worth being my friend if they treat me that way."

Haku nodded in understanding, while patiently listening to Chihiro's story on what had happened after she left. "And look, Haku," Chihiro said excitedly, holding up the wrist that the purple hairband was on. "I never took it off! Unless you count the time I took it out of my hair every night to sleep. Then I got tired of that and wore it on my wrist instead. I haven't taken it off since!"

"Well, you certainly talk more than you used to." Haku stated.

"Yeah, I'm not shy anymore. You taught me not to be so afraid of new things... And I wasn't afraid after I left, until I couldn't remember you anymore. I felt like I would never live again, like a huge piece of me was missing, and I got scared."

Haku looked away into the night. "You missed me that much? If I had known that you would go through so much torture because of me..."

"No! It's not because of you! It's nobody's fault really. Actually, I have you to thank for even coming her the first time."

"Only because I didn't get you away in time,"

"But," Chihiro began pointedly, "Your clumsiness paid off, right? Your clumsiness turned into someone else's happiness."

Haku chuckled as he thought about her words. "Reminds me of you,"

"Wha..." She was confused, then she saw what he meant and threw her arms around him again. "Am I really that important to you?"

He paused before saying, "Yes, ever since you fell into my river and I saw that little pink shoe."

Chihiro laughed. "Hey, Chihiro?" Haku asked.

"What?"

"Wanna go for a ride?" he asked with a mischievous smile.

"Can you carry Miedo and me?"

"Of course! What, do you think I'm some sort of baby dragon? How insulting..." he said with fake indignance.

"Just fly by the window that she's at, Haku. I know that she's been watching us, I can see her from here."

He changed into the white dragon with a forest-green mane all the way down his back and the same piercing green eyes. Chihiro climbed up onto his back and he took off with a burst of speed, making her scream. When she caught her balance once again she said, "Dammit, Haku! Why did you do that?!"

He turned briefly to give her a look that plainly said, "You need to watch your language, young lady."

"So, what?" she countered, "I'm fourteen now, so I can swear if I want!"

Haku spiraled up and then dived straighted down at the ground, coming up just in time. He looked back again to see Chihiro clinging to his neck in desperation. "Okay," she muttered, "I'll just shut up now... I'm afraid that if I keep my mouth open too long you might have to take a long herbal bath,"

Haku's eyes widened and he slowed down just a bit, then, regaining the confidence that Chihiro wouldn't puke all over him, he sped up again, heading towards Miedo and the open window that she was watching them out of. Chihiro reached out and grabbed her hand pulling her onto Haku's back behind her. Miedo screamed and put her arms around her friend. "Miedo," called Chihiro over the rush of the wind, "Open your eyes and look down!"

"Are you nuts?! Why would I do that?"

"Just do it!"

Miedo did as she asked and looked down at the amazing view. Calmed by the fluid motion of Haku's flying, she timidly let go of Chihiro and sat back, enjoying the nighttime view of everything. Chihiro noticed an evil glint in Haku's eye and a smirk on his face. She recognized that look and leaned back to whisper something in Miedo's ear. "I think Haku is planning on doing something dangerous, so be prepared, 'k?"

Miedo nodded and was once more clinging to her. Chihiro sighed. "Not what I meant, but okay..."

Haku had heard every word with his sensitive hear and his smirk grew wider into a sharp-toothed grin, showing his fangs. Chihiro noticed that one of his ears had twitched and was prepared for the worst.

Just as she suspected, he had a burst of speed and took an upwards flight, making Miedo scream because she felt as though she were going to fall off. Then, he turned to the left and did a few loops in the air and spiraled down at a very high speed. "Chihiro, we're going to die, aren't we? Is Haku going to kill us? Oh, we're gonna die..." Miedo whined.

Chihiro couldn't help but laugh. She hadn't flown like this for years! Actually, she hadn't ever flown like this; Haku probably thought that it was too dangerous for her back then. As Miedo screamed and the cried, then screamed again, Chihiro was laughing the whole time.

Then, without warning, The girls felt Haku drop from under them and land on the ground in his human-looking form while they fell from a very high height. While they fell, Chihiro was laughing so hard that she was crying, or maybe that was from the air rushing past. Miedo was still crying and whining. "How can you laugh at a time like this?! We're both going to die and you know it! Chihiro, IF you live, MAKE SURE TO KILL HAKU FOR ME!!"

Down on the ground, Haku heard everything that was said and winced at the last few words. "Note to self: Make sure to never make Miedo mad..." he whispered to himself, walking forward a few feet and stopping, holding out his arms.

The two best friends then found themselves stopped. Opening her eyes, Chihiro saw that Haku had caught them in his arms when they fell. Miedo was still curled up into a ball, her eyes wide and staring. Chihiro got down out of his arms with full intent on cussing him out, but she couldn't resist a smile. "Haku, you jerk!" she said, not being able to contain her laughter and stay serious. "You could've-" She laughed again, then regained control. "You could've killed us!"

"But I didn't." he defended himself, "I knew I would catch you,"

By that time, Miedo had recovered and was hopping around excitedly, as if she had just had coffee. "Come on, Haku! I wanna do it again! Can we, Chihiro? Please, please, please, please?"

"Now look what you did, Haku! You made her hyper. Now she won't sleep!"

"Hey, Haku," Miedo said thoughtfully, "You wouldn't happen to have any coffee, would you?"

"Well, yeah... The cooks have some in the kitchen. Why would you-"

"Thanks! Bye!" Miedo said as she ran off.

Chihiro sighed. "Shouldn't have done that..."

"Is she not supposed to have coffee?" Haku asked, confused.

"No, she's not. It keeps her up all night. Trust me. This one time she spent the night at my house after she had coffee, and I didn't get any sleep either because she was constantly giggling. Then, when she finally shut up and I was almost asleep, she started poking me and laughing. Over and over, and over, and over, and over... Do you see a pattern here?"

Haku grimaced. "Okaaaaaaaaaaay... So no coffee for Miedo?"

"Nope. No coffee."

"Got it."

Wow! This one was LONG! Well, compared to what I usually write anyway. But it's LONG!! YAYS!