Chapter 2

"You remembered! I'm so happy, Sen!" Zero hugged a bewildered Chihiro. Shaking off the initial daze of her discovery, Chihiro pushed him away.

"First of all, my name is not Sen. My real name is Chihiro. Yubaba stole my name to try and control me and Sen was the name I was given in its place. Secondly, you haven't answered my question. How did you get here and why did you come here?" Chihiro asked, starting to get annoyed.

You are not happy to see me?" Zero asked, very crestfallen.

"At the moment, not really. Don't get me wrong! I like you a lot, and you turned out to be good in the end, but I wasn't expecting this at all and I still don't know how you got here!" Chihiro sighed. Zero started to get frustrated too.

"Fine! This is how I got here. I was happy living in Zeneiba's house, but I started to miss you and I begged her to let me see you. She finally agreed and gave me this human body. She is allowing me to stay like this until I complete this mission that she gave me. She wouldn't let me see you without accepting it. If I succeed, I can stay human until I die, but if I fail, I have to stay with her forever," Zero explained hurriedly, "Any questions?" He folded his arms across his chest and shifted his weight to his right foot. Chihiro didn't understand his mood swing from a perky third-year, happy to see her, to this brooding young man, shooting daggers with his eyes.

"What is your mission?" Chihiro asked warily. Zero sighed, with an exasperated look on his face.

"Don't you think I would have told you that if I could? If I tell you it will ruin the whole mission!" Zero answered with an annoyed look on his face. Chihiro felt guilty.

"Look, No-Face…"

"Just call me Zero in this world," Zero replied coldly.

"Ok, Zero. I'm sorry if I offended you. It's just, I'm baffled by your visit, and though I do like you as I said before, I'm also scared of you because of the way you went rampant in the bath house." Chihiro replied, trying to make amends. Zero's face softened.

"It's alright, but my little fit and my bath house rampage were hardly under my control! Walk with me and I'll explain," he began to walk toward the double doors that led to the courtyard. Chihiro followed him and went through the door as Zero opened it for her.

"You see, I'm a wraith, a ghost if you will, that feeds off people's emotions. Just back there, you were becoming frustrated, so I was too. When you first saw me though, I was shocked to see you, so I had control of my own emotions long enough to give you a look that you seem to regret getting. Sorry about that. I just couldn't believe you were there!"

"It's ok," Chihiro, said, "Now please, continue," she began to listen very closely.

Well, the bathhouse was full of those greedy staff members that wanted gold, and I fed off of that. I guess you could say I'm a kind of people pleaser too. When you let me in from the rain, I wanted to repay you. Seeing you happy with the bath token made me want to give you more. That's why I brought you all of those bath tokens, and since the staff was pleased with the gold, I gave them as much gold as possible, which was only painted dirt basically." Zero finished as they reached Chihiro's bike. He watched as she unchained it, and she was about to get on when she heard another familiar voice.

"Chihiro!"

Her heart skipped a few beats. She was pretty sure she knew whom it was she slowly turned around. Her heart almost leapt out of heart chest toward the person. Her face grew as bright as the sun, and she screamed:

"Haku!!"

She threw her bike aside and ran to Haku with arms outstretched. They embraced and Chihiro started to cry tears of utter joy.

"How are you here?" She managed to ask.

"Since the Kohaku River has been filled in, I asked the Spirit King to give me a human body. He agreed on a condition, and now I will be a mortal until I die!" Haku explained, "I wanted to see you again, and since the river doesn't really exist anymore, I thought, what are the consequences?" He smiled at Chihiro and she beamed back through her tears.

"This is so unlike you! You seemed like the person who would never do something like that, doing something so rash as to become human. I'm surprised in a good way to see you, Haku! I've missed you so much!!" Chihiro managed to choke out. Haku chuckled and put his forehead against hers.

"You never got to see what a free spirit I am, no pun intended. While under Yubaba's control, I was forced to be as strict and harsh as I was. In reality, I am still responsible and protective, but I am not as cautious and harsh as I used to be." Haku stared into her blue eyes. Chihiro was about to ask a question, but he put his finger to her lips. Her face turned a bright shade of pink.

"The condition was that I had to bring you back to the Spirit World one more time." Chihiro became puzzled and shocked.

Why?"

Haku didn't answer, but simply stared at the person behind her, realizing that they had an audience to their reunion. Chihiro turned around.

Zero once again had his arms crossed and his weight on his right foot. He was glaring at Haku.

"Why are you upset?" Chihiro asked him innocently, not picking up on Haku's mood behind her.

"Well, if my own emotions are strong enough, I can take control. For example, if the atmosphere is happy, and I detest it with a hellish passion, then my detestation comes through," Zero replied, aiming the last part towards Haku.

"Are you sure you're not just feeding off of my emotions?" Haku retorted. Chihiro looked at him and saw that he was mirroring Zero exactly.

Zero straightened up. His closed his eyes and turned his face to the sky. He shuddered, which caused Chihiro to take hold of Haku's arm, and he looked back at the frightened Chihiro and Haku.

"I can feel your hate, but they are not for the same reasons as my own, for now."

Chihiro gave a confused look at Zero, and then turned to Haku.

"Why are you upset?" Chihiro inquired.

"Well the reason that you have to come back to the Spirit world is because it has been taken over," Haku pointed at Zero, "By his brother."