Authors Note: I am so sorry I didn't update for two weekends. I had been busy like always the usual excuses... bla bla... I know it is bad. But the previous weekend when I thought i could actually sit down and type the new chapter I was sick. T.T So that is the reason I couldn't update for two weekends. Before the start of the chapter I will like to thank everyone that had reviewed. Wowie, SAK00, Guest, fandomnerd12, MXiong, Led Floyd, PorcelainMannequin, darkstar2010, Cats4789, Micaela Bautista and libby who had personally PM me to continue this story.

Happy Reading!

Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away

Chapter 5: Painful Reunion

The tension was thick and quiet as Chihiro stared at the person with emerald eyes entered the room. Even those eyes were familiar because of her dreams he was still a stranger to her. She watched him stepped into the room slowly and she took a step back.

Haku watched Chihiro looking scared as she stared at him. It hurts him a lot. But he needed to know if she was wounded after the accident. He approached her slowly.

Chihiro back away when he approached until her back hit the side table by the bed. Instinctively, she grabbed the nearest object, which was the lamp stand on the side table. She held it tightly with both hands and pointed it at Haku.

"Don't come any closer!" Chihiro cried in a rather panic voice. The bubbles that were bouncing around the lamp started to scatter around her but she ignored them. Her eyes focus on the person before her.

He stalled in his steps and watched Chihiro in rather sad eyes. This wasn't how he wanted to meet Chihiro but he didn't know what else to do when he knew she was in danger and brought her here. The only place he knew no one could hurt her. However, he never knew that Chihiro would get so afraid in seeing him.

Chihiro faltered slightly at his expression. That wouldn't be the expression if he was to be someone dangerous. Somehow it pained her to see him looking so miserable.

When Haku saw Chihiro let her guard down slightly he started to take another step towards her. But his movement got her wary again.

"Stay away!" Chihiro cried again and tried to back away more but fell over towards the bed instead.

She scrambled quickly to a sitting position and scooted away to the other side further from Haku. Her hands still held onto the lamp stand tightly ready to defend if he comes any closer. Her back pressed onto the back of the bedpost.

Haku stopped moving again.

"I won't hurt you Chihiro." He told her softly.

"How do you know my name?" Chihiro stammered and looked really frightened now. "Who are you? Why did you bring me here? What happened to my friends?"

"I know you since you were very young." Haku told her. "And your friends are fine."

Even all memories lost, she was still the same. Haku thought to himself. She still thought about her friends and people close to her even in her worst situations.

"You met me when I was young?" Chihiro repeated slowly and still watching him suspiciously. But she had lowered the lamp stand she used as a weapon slightly.

"Yes," Haku smiled slightly. "When you were always playing by the river before that river was destroyed."

Chihiro remained silent. She did remember that there was a river near where she lived before but it was drained out to build apartments. Those memories so far back was already hazy and she couldn't remember if she had met anyone with emerald eyes before.

However, he might be telling the truth. Chihiro thought because she did felt like she knew those eyes. She finally placed the lamp stand down slowly.

"So where am I?" Chihiro asked him.

"This is my home and you are in my room. I brought you here because I think you may be in danger."

"You mean the fight I had with those girls?" Chihiro said almost laughing. "I am sure it was just a misunderstanding. So you didn't have to make such a big deal out of it."

Haku remained silent. Chihiro wouldn't understand even if he explained. She had no memories of the spirit world anymore and what happened to those girls in the forest was the cause of a spell.

"How do I get home?" Chihiro asked Haku with her head tilted slightly. Her eyes were wide and innocent while looking at him.

It took all Haku's willpower not to go over to her and hug her. He clutched his hands tightly into fists and remained rooted on the floor where he was. He couldn't trust himself to go near her.

"I suggest that you stay here for a while." Haku told her.

"But I need to get home!" Chihiro cried. "Toshihiro-san will be worried if I don't return."

"I know Toshihiro, I will inform him of your whereabouts."

"Wait!" Chihiro was getting frustrated. "You can't make me stay here if I don't want to!"

Haku watched her silently. This meeting with Chihiro was really breaking his heart.

"Just let me go home!" Chihiro told him.

"No, you have to stay." Haku turned away from her and walked over to the door. "You are save here right now and that is all I can tell you."

"What?" Chihiro got off the bed and was about to approach him but she stopped because she was somehow still slightly afraid of him. "You can't lock me in here! This is just like making me prisoner in your home."

"If I have to." Haku turned to her with the same sad look on his face before he left the room and shut the door.

"HEY!" Chihiro shouted angrily.

Haku stood at the other side of the shoji door, took a deep breath and leaned back. He closed his eyes, hung his head and placed his hand on his forehead looking very defeated.

"Nice going in there."

Haku looked over slightly to see Shirudo standing nearby with her arms crossed in front of her.

"I bet you didn't got to see if she was injured?"

"Why don't you go in?" Haku told Shirudo, he straightened up immediately and his face void from all emotions. "She is too guarded when I am in there. She doesn't trust me and won't allow me go any closer to her than a few feet."

"Really…" Shirudo said softly and stared at the closed shoji door.

"I think she will be a little more relax if a female is to talk to her." Haku said and started to walk away. "I can't trust myself either if I get too close to her. I don't want to frighten her more than she already are."

Shirudo watched Haku walked off feeling sorry for him. He had waited to meet Chihiro face to face for a long time. She bet that this meeting was far from the scenario he had in mind.

Masami was sitting by the lake reading in the Imperial Garden when Haku strolled out towards her. He was livid and she knew exactly why he came to her. They weren't in talking terms since the accident and the only reason he would actually look for her would only mean one thing and it would be always caused of that human girl.

"I didn't do it." Masami said in a monotone voice without looking at him when he stood next to her.

"And you knew what I was going to ask?" Haku frowned slightly.

"Of course, she was unconscious when you brought her here."

"You know too much to be telling me that you didn't do it." Haku accused angrily.

Masami looked up from the journal she was reading and turned to him.

"You should be more worried about them."

Masami turned towards a few female voices approaching them.

Haku turned to see the female courtesan coming into the garden and almost groaned. He had totally forgotten about them.

"The palace isn't as save as you think it is going to be now," Masami said with a small smile and turned back to Haku. "Don't you think?"

Haku didn't answer. If only he could send all of them home but the court had intervened. These female courtesans had to stay until he finds his mate.

"They still do not know about her being here." Masami stood up from her sitting place. "You should be careful too. They are not very happy when they found out you went to the human realm to meet her."

"How did you know all these?" Haku asked softly.

"They talk too loud." Masami said before walking off.

Haku raised an eyebrow. Masami had been roaming the palace like a shadow. She hadn't spoke much and always mind her own business but Haku finally realized that Masami had been monitoring those courtesans for his sake.

Even so he still couldn't trust her with Chihiro. After all Masami wanted her dead before.

Chihiro sat back down the bed with a huge huff. The shoji doors were locked as soon as that person went out. She didn't even know his name and he knew hers!

"Damn!" Chihiro whispered and lie back.

She stared at the swimming koi fishes around the ceiling and sighed. If Kenshin found out that she went missing he would be in a fit. After all she was suppose to be his partner for his final year project and it was very important.

When she heard the shoji door slide opened again, Chihiro sat up quickly. But it wasn't him who walked in but a very beautiful lady with yellows eyes! Do people even have yellow eyes?

The lady strolled in and sat down on the edge of the bed next to Chihiro. She was glad that Chihiro wasn't as wary of her like Haku told her.

"Hey Chihiro, it had been a long time." The lady told Chihiro. "I am Shirudo by the way. Kohaku earlier said you are hurt. I came to see your wounds."

"His name is Kohaku?" Chihiro said softly deep in her thoughts.

"Does it ring a bell?"

"If I am not mistaken I know of a river name Kohaku." Chihiro said. "It was near my old house."

"Ah, that is all you can remember?"

Chihiro frowned. "Is there something else I need to know?"

Shirudo sighed softly. "Let me see if your wounds."

"I didn't get hurt badly." Chihiro said lifting up her arm. "Just a bruise here."

Shirudo smiled slightly and looked at the bruises. She moved her hands over her wounds and the bruises started to fade slowly.

Chihiro was astounded and stared wide eyed.

"What happened?" She asked in surprised.

"It is a little fox trick." Shirudo said with a smile. "Small injuries such as these are easy to heal with my abilities. But anything severe I don't have that specialty."

Chihiro couldn't understand a single word she said only remained silent and stared on.

"Didn't Kohaku tell you where you are and what he is?"

"What is he then?" Chihiro asked slowly with an eyebrow raised.

Shirudo sighed. Damn Kohaku he didn't explained a single thing! She thought to herself silently and angrily.

"Well, let me explain something but please do not freak out on what I am about to tell you."

Chihiro nodded slightly and slowly. She didn't know what to expect. Why did this lady asked her not to freak out? Was Kohaku some kind of serial killer that she had to be wary of?

Very slowly Shirudo explained about the spirit world.

Chihiro could only listen her eyes growing bigger by the second.

When the tale came to an end, there was a heavy silence between the two.

The seconds ticked by and finally Chihiro broke down laughing breaking the ice.

"Are you trying to tell me you and Kohaku are mystical creatures?"

Shirudo could only sighed inwardly. She didn't expect Chihiro to take what she said as a joke.

"Gosh! That scared me for a moment. I thought you were going to tell me Kohaku was some kind of serial killer that murders people."

"Serial killer?" Shirudo looked a little confused.

"Well, you know… people who are mentally ill and kill people in a gruesome way for fun."

"Do people even do that?"

"In special cases… usually serial killers are rare but there are people like that."

"Wow, humans are so weird." Shirudo said softly.

"You talk like you are not human." Chihiro chuckled.

"It is because I am not." Shirudo sighed. "I am a fox demon. I'm actually your shikigami."

"Joudan ja nai wa!" Chihiro almost burst out laughing again.

(Joudan janai wa [冗談じゃない和]: Don't joke around/ you got to be kidding me)

"I guess you won't believe me if I don't do this!"

Shirudo stood up and transformed into her demon form.

Chihiro squeaked and scooted to the back of the bed until her back hit the head of the bed.

Then Shirudo changed back again to the human form.

"Do you believe me now?"

Chihiro was still shock could only stare.

"Please don't be afraid of me." Shirudo begged. "You are supposed to be our master before you lost your memories and we really want you to remember again."

"You said we!" Chihiro said in a quivering voice. "There are more?"

"Well, you have two other Shikigami." Shirudo told her. "There is Tengu and the other is Okami."

"I can't believe this!" Chihiro was still shaking.

Shirudo sighed out loud in defeat. Somehow she was beginning to understand the feeling of disappointment that Haku felt.

"I am not going to force you to remember of course." Shirudo said. "But at least please try to trust us especially Kohaku. He had been protecting you almost all your life."

"How am I supposed to trust someone who locked me in?"

"He is just desperately trying to protect you now because someone was trying to harm you. Didn't you feel anything weird when you were attacked in the forest?"

Chihiro remained silent then. She did recall that the girls were acting weird and that was a strange light in their eyes. If whatever, Shirudo told her was true. Those girls might have been manipulated by something unseen. But it still seemed rather surreal.

"If Kohaku didn't come on time I bet those girls would have tried to stab you."

Still no respond from Chihiro.

"Please think about it." Shirudo finally said and left the room silently.

Chihiro took a deep breath and buried her face in her hands. She didn't know what else to think anymore. Everything had gone so wrong since she returned to the shrine.

Shirudo went to look for Haku who was returning from the gardens.

"I did all I could, if you want her to trust you again you have to be the one who talk to her." Shirudo said. "Call me again if you need anything else. I will go over to Toshihiro-sama's shrine to let him know that Chihiro is fine."

She vanished after Haku nod his approval.

Haku walked back towards the room. It had been almost a day since Chihiro had something to eat. He brought in a tray of human food that he had prepared earlier that day when she was unconscious.

He slid opened the shoji doors and saw Chihiro was at the corner of the room looking at his spiritual book collections. She turned slightly when he entered.

"I thought you might be hungry." Haku said softly.

"Yeah actually I am…" Chihiro answered as calmly as she could.

She decided to believe Shirudo that this person had been protecting her almost all her life. Her instinct somehow told her that it was the right thing to do and her instinct was never wrong.

Haku placed the tray on the table in in the middle of the room. He watched Chihiro hesitated for a moment before she walked over towards him.

He smiled slightly. "Please sit and help yourself. You always love tonkatsu so I made some."

Chihiro was silent as she took a seat cautiously. He even knew what she liked to eat. How long did they know each other? He did mention that he knew her since she was a kid. Was he a childhood friend?

"Did we used to play together when we were kids?" Chihiro asked quietly after she sat down.

Haku who stood by the table gestured towards the chair next to her. Chihiro looked slightly confused for a second and when she realized that he was asking her if he could sit down next to her, she nodded softly once.

Haku sat down gracefully next to her. It was the first time ever Chihiro saw such elegance from a man. She could only stare at him. He smiled slightly when he saw her watching him inquiringly and she quickly turned away blushing. Her heart rate had increase rather rapidly and it was making her rather fidgety on her seat.

What was happening to her heart?

All those times she had spent with Kenshin, the most popular and great looking guy in university, she had never felt her heart skip before. Why was her heart acting all weird with someone she just met?

Chihiro looked back up at Haku again slowly. There must be some explanation for all of this. Shirudo only told her that he was a trustworthy person. She never told her what kind of relationship they had.

Were they friends?

How did they actually even meet if they both were from different worlds?

"Chihiro, I think it would be best if you try to remember your lost memories yourself." Haku told her patiently. "I will help you on the way. If you allow me to."

"You will help?" She asked slowly. She needed to get to the bottom of her feelings once and for all and she knew that he was the answer to all she needed to know.

"I will do everything to help you Chihiro." Haku told her earnestly. "I always have."

To be continued...

Authors note: It is sad to say I didn't like the chapter much... But it has to go this way before I could continue more Chihiro and Haku scenes. Plus as usual I didn't had time to edit like always. I hope it turn out alright.

Please do drop a review it always makes my day :)

There are some Japanese terms I didn't explained in the chapter so I put it at the bottom here. Most of this terms were written in my previous story Distant Dreams. So that is the reason I didn't explain in the chapter itself. This is just in case anyone forgot.

Tonkatsu (豚カツ, とんかつ or トンカツ, pork cutlet), is a Japanese food which consists of a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet. There are two main types, hire and rosu. It is often served with shredded cabbage. Tonkatsu originated in Japan in the 19th century. As well as being served as a single dish, it is also used as a sandwich filling or in combination with curry.

Shikigami (式神, also read as Shiki-no-kami, 式の神) is the term for a being from Japanese folklore. It is thought to be some sort of kami, represented by a small belief of shikigami originates from Onmyōdō. Shikigami are said to be invisible most of the time, but they can be made visible by banning them into small, folded and artfully cut paper manikins. There are also shikigami that can show themselves as animals or birds. They must be conjured during a complex ceremony and their power is connected to the spiritual force of their master. If the evoker is well introduced and has lots of experience, his Shiki can possess animals and even people and manipulate them. But if the evoker is careless, his shikigami may get out of control in time, gaining its own will and consciousness. In this case the shikigami will raid its own master and kill him in revenge. Normally shikigami are conjured to exercise risky orders for their masters, such as spying around, stealing and enemy tracking.

Onmyōdō (陰陽道?, also In'yōdō, lit. 'The Way of Yin and Yang') is a traditional Japanese esoteric cosmology, a mixture of natural science and occultism. It is based on the Chinese philosophies of Wu Xing and Yin and yang, introduced into Japan at the beginning of the 6th century. It was accepted as a practical system of divination. These practices were influenced further by Taoism, Buddhism and Shintoism, and evolved into the system of onmyōdō around the late 7th century.