She could hardly believe her eyes. There, right in front of her, was something she'd seen in pictures, heard in stories... Chihiro's 'Spirit World'... The abandoned theme park.

Ryumiko began to pick up pace again, speeding towards the theme park with all her might. If people were around, they would wonder why a sixteen year old girl would run as wild as a five year old, the way she did. She didn't care though, the place felt like it was in a separate time and space to everything else... like a different dimension. She walked over the remains of a riverbed, looking briefly at the small trickle of water that now ran between the large rocks. Everything was just like Chihiro had drawn it... at the top of the stairs was the frog whose mouth was wide open... the shops that were still serving food even though the theme park was no longer running... the bridge to the bath-house...

Ryumiko stared at the bridge, recalling each and every detail of the fairytale Chihiro used to tell her about this place. She also recalled the day they'd found the entrance in the forest and couldn't understand why her cousin didn't want to come here. The place was alive and vibrant, filled with things that sparked long lost curiosity. Why had her cousin refused to let her come here?

She stood on the bridge carefully, hoping that the wood wasn't rotten with age, and looked to the horizon. The sun was now seconds away from hitting the hills in the distance. She was about to make her way home when a scent caught her nose. Following the scent, she found one of the restaurants, and a pile of mouth watering food. The sight sparked a memory,

"The mother and father ate the food, not realising that the food was laid out for the spirits who journeyed to the bathouse. They ate and they ate; the food was so good that they ate ten times more than their stomachs could hold," said Chihiro, with a bright glint in her eyes.

"What happened next?" asked a ten year old Ryumiko, eagerly awaiting the rest of a story she'd heard hundreds of times.

"The spirits were angry that their food had been eaten by humans, so an old witch named Yubaba turned them both to pigs!"

Pigs huh? Ryumiko thought, looking at the food while her stomach rumbled. Surely it's just a fairytale... Reaching out tentatively, she picked up a piece of chicken, looking at it hungrily. She was about to take a bite when the food disappeared from her hand. Her eyes widened in surprise as she examined her hand that was void of food. She then looked around her feet, wondering if she dropped it somewhere. Her dull blue eyes found a pair of bare feet. Her eyes continued tracing upwards, finding attached to the pair of feet, were legs in blue pants, a torso in a white tunic-y-thing and finally her eyes stopped at a pair of familiar yet solemn green eyes. Ryumiko blinked, wondering if the boy in front of her was an illusion. Everything from his waist-length green hair to his bare feet screamed both the words, 'unnatural' and 'handsome'. He looked a good two heads taller and two years older than her and wore an expression void of emotion. Looking down at his arms, she noticed he was holding her missing chicken.

"Hey! I was going to eat that!" she said pointing at the meat.

The boy frowned at her, putting the food back on the plate where it belonged, "You mustn't eat this food."

Ryumiko jolted, wondering if this stranger knew about Chihiro's fairytales, she ventured further, "Why? What will happen if I ate the food?"

The boy glanced at her, giving her a strange expression before returning to the same expressionless face, "You would not believe me if I told you."

"Pigs?" she almost screamed, impatient and wanting to know if he knew Chihiro.

The boy's eyes widened before he frowned again, stepping closer to her, "You need to leave. Get out now!"

Suddenly the scene felt familiar, something like what her cousin had said in her fairytale,

"A boy suddenly appeared before the girl," Chihiro said, pointing to her drawing of 'Kohaku'. "And her told her to leave before the sun set..."

Everything clicked, her mind all of a sudden putting together pieces, "Kohaku?" she whispered.

The question was electric, like watching the part in a movie where the main character is given astonishing news; the expression on the actor changes from one to the next, almost in slow-motion. That was what the boy appeared to be doing as he stared at Ryumiko.

"How do you know th-" he stopped himself before glancing at the bath-house. As he did so, the sun vanished beyond the horizon, and lights suddenly appeared around them. Ryumiko jumped and looked at the street. Hundreds of traditional lamps were lit along the strip of shops, creating an ethereal glow in the theme park.

"Hey... Hey what's going on?" Ryumiko asked timidly, abruptly feeling like something was wrong.

The boy grimaced before turning towards her, "Here," he said, passing a small piece of bread from inside his hakama to her, "Eat this, then go hide yourself by the river. Go!" he instructed her, pushing her down the street. Before he turned away he called out, "Wait there until I come and find you!" and with that, he was gone.

Deciding to take heed from the strange boy's advice, she began a sprint back the way she came, towards the dry riverbed. From her corner of her eyes, as she ran past the old shops, she began to see shadows form and move around her...

"...as the girl ran through the street, the spirits visiting the bath house began to appear, only able to reveal themselves when the sun had disappeared..."

Ryumiko shuddered and kept running, trying not to look at the shadows. She felt uneasy as she ran through one shadow, feeling as though she ran through the mist of a large waterfall. Seeing the frog up ahead, she gave an inward sigh of relief, thankful that she was nearly there.

"...the girl kept running before she fell into a river that had appeared from nowhere..."

She ran down the steps, only to squeal in shock when she found herself running into a body of water. Scrambling back out of the water, she ran and found a place to hide, behind the wall of a building. Crouching down she panted quietly, in the dark, not understanding how the light could so quickly vanish. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, before she noticed she couldn't see her feet.

"... she girl stared in wonder as she looked through her invisible hands... the boy from earlier found her and gave her some food to eat. Not wanting to turn into pigs like her parents she refused, but the boy said that she had to or else she'd disappear completely..."

Ryumiko remembered the bit of bread the boy had given her and opened her clenched fist. The bread was squashed now but she didn't care, she just didn't want to disappear. Nearly swallowing the bit of bread whole, she sighed and watched her feet lose its transparency. What is going on? Surely I fell over and knocked myself out and now I'm dreaming! Ryumiko tried to reason with herself. This all just my imagination! This is Chihiro's fairytale! she tried convincing herself, slapping her cheeks in an attempt to try and wake herself up.

As she continued to slap her face, she didn't notice the boy from earlier find her and walk up beside her, "What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

She turned and saw honest curiosity in his face, even in the dim light. This is the most realistic and weird dream I've ever had... she thought , "I'm - um - trying to - uh - wake myself up."

He gave her a quizzical expression before indicating that is was time to go. Ryumiko followed obediently, hoping that the dream would be over quickly if she just went with the flow. She was led away from the abandoned theme park and towards a small house on the outskirts of the park. It was designed to look like a traditional Japanese house with a fluted roof and red painted walls that were cracked and looked as if they were about to fall. The boy opened the door to the house and motioned with his hand for her to wait outside. From where she stood, Ryumiko could hear an arguement. However, because the fight was inside, she could only pick up a few words from the arguing.

"...Human? Another one?... put her in my care?" a female voice shouted.

The boy replied with as much volume, "...owe me!...knew name...same as..."

"...Fine!"

Ryumiko jumped when the door slammed open to reveal a brown haired woman wearing similar clothes to the boy only in pink. The woman's expression made Ryumiko realise that she got irritated easily.

"Come in... and look like you actually have a brain larger than a goldfishes'," snapped the woman, moving to the side so that there was enough room for Ryumiko to enter.

Hesitating only for a moment, Ryumiko wondered where on earth this dream would lead to...

Hello again! So I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope I updated faster than I thought I would!

Thank-yous to:

ultima-owner

cynthiarox66

TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1

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