The familiar scent of saltwater filled Chihiro's nostrils, this unique scent only a beach could have.
"Chihiro, wake up," Haku's soothing voice murmured to her, pleasantly interrupting her half-dreaming, half-awake state. Her lids opened halfway. She was still on his back, but they had finally arrived. Her face pressed up against the back of his neck, she could see the beach and the creamy sand stretching for miles. She raised her head and looked over his shoulder for a better look. The sight made her mouth gape open. The sand was a lovely white color. The ocean was the bluest color she had ever seen for water. The sun shone overhead, illuminating the water and making it sparkle. Birds of all types and colors, some even unseen in the human world, landed gracefully on top of the ocean and float on the surface.
Chihiro had never seen a beach so… so… perfect.
Whereas on the beaches in the human world, there were sand fleas, seaweed, garbage and cigarettes and all kinds of dead things washed up on the shore like the beach was meant to be a graveyard, but not here. It looked completely untouched. The only things that drifted to shore were lovely seashells, crabs and rocks. All of this was a sure sign that the beach itself was healthy.
Haku let Chihiro down. She slowly slipped away from him. She had her yellow shoes on, and she immediately took them off. As soon as her bare skin contacted the sand, she wanted so desperately to just fall down and cover herself in it, even sleep there. It was like a giant pillow. She had never felt sand so smooth.
"This place is unbelievable, Haku!" She said, ignoring the extra sounds behind her of the other spirits just arriving and roaming.
"I thought so, too," He grinned, observing the water and the way the tides pushed and pulled so delicately.
"You've been here before?" Chihiro asked, turning to him.
"Many times. Sometimes if Yubaba sent me out on missions, I would get those missions completed and come here for a while just to be on my own before I returned to the Aburaya."
"What would you do here?"
Haku shrugged. "Just sat on the sand most of the time and checked up on the ocean spirits to see if everything was well."
"There are ocean spirits?"
"Yes, many of them, in fact. The more physical spirits that guard the ocean are the mermaids."
Chihiro gasped and grabbed hold of his arm excitedly. "There are mermaids?"
"Of course," Haku blinked, looking bewildered at her. "Do you not see them in the human world?"
"No, of course not," Chihiro stated with a tone of sadness in her voice, "I would love to meet one!"
Haku smiled. "I will have to show you. But they only come around towards nighttime, so I'll show you then."
Chihiro blinked. "Why only nighttime?"
"Because they aren't as disturbed. Many spirits roam the beach here in the daytime, and they don't want to show themselves too often. Once in a great while, they'll wash up on shore and their fish tails turn into legs so they can walk around and communicate with other spirits, but that's not as exciting, now is it?" He smirked.
Chihiro nodded, smiling.
"Come now, let's meet back up with Yubaba," Haku took her hand again and they began walking with the crowd of other spirits.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
With how warm the day was, women were allowed to take off their working top, showing their blue tank top underneath and their pink pants were tied up into shorts, just as how they looked going to bed. Men were able to take off their tops, having only their pants on, like any guy would wear on the beach. But, Haku being stubborn and uncomfortable for whatever reasons he wouldn't explain, he kept his whole uniform together.
Only Yubaba had a swimsuit, which she used (I won't describe how quite disturbing that looked) and lounged on her chair with an umbrella overhead and her purple sunglasses. She wasn't disturbed the entire day, as she had told the spirits to do whatever they pleased. No questions were asked.
For most of the day, as expected, Chihiro spent her time with Haku, and Rin on a few occasions for a game of volleyball, which Chihiro had to teach some spirits, as it was certainly not an everyday spirit world game. While she would play, Haku would simply stand off to the side and watch until Chihiro was done.
There was a time, though, when Yubaba called Haku over to her for something, which he obliged. Rin being busy playing in the water with the radish spirit and Chihiro's stubbornness of not wanting to get her uniform wet, she crouched on the shore with a twig she had found and carved pictures and words in the sand, waiting for Haku to return.
She carved the words "I love Haku" into the sand and waited for the tide to come in and wash it away before her friend would see. But she had no idea he was right behind her and looking over her shoulder with his hands behind his back as she carved this. As she finished spelling his name, his face softened and he grinned.
"I love you, too, Chihiro."
His voice surprised Chihiro so bad that she jumped and fell over into the sand, on top of the words, while letting out a tiny scream.
"H-Haku!" She said, gawking up at his form. Her whole body and voice was shaking violently, and inside, her heart was fluttering wildly with excitement.
"You know," He crouched down beside her, "You can't possibly keep something like that a secret for long from me," he smiled.
"Haku?"
"But I know I can't keep it a secret from you, either. Not anymore, anyway."
Haku took the twig Chihiro had used before and carved "I love Chihiro". She smiled at him, but said nothing.
"Why should it be a secret, anyway? We love each other as friends, right?" Chihiro asked.
Haku, for a split second, had an undefined look. Perhaps disappointment?
"Yeah," he said slowly. "As friends. Of course," He smiled wide.
Chihiro smiled back and hugged his neck. "You're the best friend I've ever had, Haku."
Haku wrapped his arms around her and nuzzled his face against hers affectionately. "As you are mine."
They stayed in this position for a long time, right up against the seashore. There couldn't have been a lovelier sight. Several spirits had stopped what they were doing to watch the two children wrapped in each other and lost in their world.
"Master Haku?" The little frog murmured to himself. It truly was behavior from his master that had never been witnessed before.
Rin watched as well, unable to stop smiling. Such sweet innocence came from Haku and Chihiro's embrace that she wanted to go hug someone, herself. She decided, though, that fun should be the highest priority right now – romance could wait until this evening.
"Hey, guys! Come play volleyball with us!" She called out.
In the distance, their little heads turned as they broke away only slightly. Some words were exchanged amongst themselves, which made Haku nod, and Chihiro gently pulled away from him and ran off to join Rin. Haku watched her for a moment, then turned his gaze back to the ocean.
"What's going on? Why didn't Haku follow you?" Rin asked Chihiro when she met up with her.
"He doesn't want to play. He's going to sit there for a while. But he said maybe he'll join up with us later," Chihiro replied.
Rin looked over at Haku again. He sat alone at the seashore with his arms wrapped around his legs. A light breeze carried itself and brushed through his hair. He looked so very lonely…
"He really doesn't want to play?" Rin asked again, her eyes saddening.
"Yeah, for whatever reason," Chihiro shrugged.
Rin sighed. "Well, it's his loss. C'mon!"
0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Haku sighed to himself, burying his face in his knees. His suspicions were confirmed – Chihiro thought of him only as a friend, nothing more. He loved her just as much as a friend, but he knew of his deepest feelings for Chihiro; he at least acknowledged that he also loved her in a romantic sort of way. Although, did she really just think of him as a friend, or did she just say that to ease her nervousness? That was also a possibility.
He concluded to himself that he would talk to her tonight about these feelings after visiting the mermaids. Maybe there was still a little glimmer of hope for them both?