Chapter 2

There was a hesitation before Haku knocked firmly on the door.

He'd been waiting for far too long for this day, although he hadn't expected it to take as long as it had. Zeniba greeted him, sighing as she held the door still slightly closed, blocking the river spirit's view of what was inside her house. The old witch sighed, looking him over with a sad face. An agitated face looked back at her as Haku asked in a choked sort of voice, "Is he here? Did you bring him?"

Zeniba's face darkened, but she nodded slowly, watching as Haku's despairing face filled with some hope. His dark eyes flickered for the first time in years, and he eagerly went to take a step towards the doorway when Zeniba barred his way once more.

Giving him a stern look, she said, "Are you sure you want to do this, Haku? I don't think-"

"Zeniba, let me through; I want to see him. I want my daughter back…Akari is all I have left now. Let me in." Haku's voice was cold, and his eyes were hollow and dead, causing Zeniba to sigh again before opening the door and allowing him in.

Haku's eyes darted around the room before settling on the figure sitting casually at Zeniba's table. As the river spirit stepped closer, he raked his eyes over the figure who sat before him. Feet propped up on the table, the young man was rocking back in forth with the chair, a bored expression on his face.

"Are you the one I'm looking for then? Can you bring back my daughter?" Haku asked harshly, not caring how rude he may have sounded to the stranger. The figure stopped rocking for a second before slowly turning to look at him, the hood falling off to a reveal a fairly good looking teen, although the handsome face was marred by the twisted smile he wore.

"Of course. I'll do whatever you want…but not for free. What do you have to offer me, in return for me going to get your daughter from the Human World?"

Haku resisted the urge to shiver; Yubaba's voice was nothing in comparison to the cold, calculating voice that emanated from the young man. Zeniba watched nervously as Haku hesitated before saying, "I can offer you all I have…that is…"

The figure laughed mockingly, the frigid sound bouncing off the walls and repeating in a cruel way before he said, "I have no need for your possessions. No, I'd rather have something more substantial than that…why not offer me a soul instead?"

"Soul?"

There was another cackle as the figure said, "Well obviously. It's simple, really. I go fetch your daughter…and in return, you sign a contract saying that when we get back here, she belongs to me."

Angrily, Haku took another step forward before saying in a fierce voice, "What do you mean, my daughter will belong to you!?"

"Calm down," the man said, giving Haku an almost disgusted look. "I mean she'll marry me. I'm in need of a new wife anyways; the last one I had was several years ago."

Hesitantly, Haku asked, "What happened to your first wife?"

"Oh you know," the man shrugged, "She caught the Virus….and she died. There was no saving her…surely you of all people understand that?"

Haku grit his teeth, his fist clenched as his whole body started to shake. Glaring at the smirking man, he asked, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's well known when the wife of a famous river spirit dies, Kohaku."

With a sort of growl, Haku rushed to the man and grabbed him by the front of his robes, yelling at him, "That's no one's business but mine! Leave Chihiro out of this!"

The man just smiled all the more before Haku felt an invisible force twisting his arm back, and he grunted in pain as he was forced to the drop the young man before him. While Haku writhed in pain, the young man laughed and said, "Over excited, aren't we? That should calm you down. Now answer me, because you're wasting my time; do I get your daughter or not?"

Haku looked up as the pressure left him and said slowly, "If you can bring her back to me…then you can marry her. Is that good enough for you? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

There was a smile as the man whispered in a low voice, "Yes."

Once the man had left the room and the warmth was returned to the area, Zeniba helped a weak Haku to his feet. As she sat him down in a chair and No Face looked on worriedly, the old witch chided, "You shouldn't have done that, Haku. I've said this before and I'll say it again; that man is up to no good, and you shouldn't have agreed to giving him Akari. I thought you wanted your daughter back with you, not with someone like that."

Haku threw his hands up in frustration as he yelled, "I do want her back…at least if she's here in the Spirit World I can still see her. He may be powerful, but he won't stop me from seeing my own daughter, not at the price I've paid. I can't go to the Human World myself and fetch her…who else was I supposed to call?"

Zeniba turned around to make tea, muttering, "Chihiro would've never wanted this…"

There was a loud smack as Haku slammed his hands on the table and glared, while No Face fidgeted nervously from the corner. Standing up, the river spirit said roughly, "Chihiro is…Chihiro's gone. Akari is all I have left, and I can't give up on her. I don't know why she left so long ago, and it wasn't like I could have done anything while I was trying to nurse Chihiro back to health. Now that we finally got ahold of Shadow, he can bring back the only family I have left."

Zeniba turned to face Haku, and asked in a whisper, "But the cost of getting her back….to sell her soul to THAT sort of man….Haku, what have you done?"

Goodness gracious it's been awhile since I started work on this story! But here we are. Two chapters :D Anyways, I finally got motivated to start again on this project, although I can't promise frequent updates the way I usually do in the summers. Be patient with me, dear readers!

Anyways, thanks all for reading, and if you're here because you read the first one and are happy that there's a second, then thank you too :) You guys are awesome!

Disclaimers here: No ownership of characters, pictures, etc. here! I just really like the movie XD