Ryumiko sat awkwardly in a chair in the small kitchen. It appeared the woman who had let her into the house owned the place. She kept it very tidy, Ryumiko observed.

The woman had taken the boy into another room, where they had a loud conversation about whether or not she could stay in the house. The two had obviously known each other for some time as they kept talking about things that had 'happened before'. Finally the two reappeared and took chairs in front of Ryumiko. The woman sat down and placed on leg over the other, irritation written plainly on her face. The boy sat stiffly, his back as straight as a board.

"Okay. I haven't introduced myself yet, my name is Rin. Thanks to Haku here, it seems I have no other choice but to let you stay in my house until you can return home," the woman said staring at Ryumiko with her arms folded across her chest.

Ryumiko would have smiled, were it not for the tense atmosphere in the room. She finally knew the boy's and the woman's name, they both matched Chihiro's story, creepily enough.

Haku spoke up, "Before I leave, we would like to ask a few questions. First of all..." The two exchanged hopeful glances, for reasons Ryumiko couldn't guess. "...How did you know my name?"

Ryumiko gave a half smile, "Well you see, my cousin, she's eighteen now, she used to tell me stories about a place like this. Every night that I came over to her house actually. She even drew pictures of the people in this place. I just thought that you looked like a boy she drew. You know, only you look around Chihiro's age now instead of a twelve year old kid."

Rin jumped to her feet, surprising her. Ryumiko noticed Haku's eyes light up at the mention of her cousin's name as well. "Chihiro?" she cried, leaning closer towards Ryumiko with a bright glint in her eyes. Unable to think properly for the tiredness that was coming over her, she nodded. Rin gave Haku a smile, excited about hearing Chihiro's name. Haku returned to an expressionless state, looking neither excited or interested.

Rin began babbling, hardly stopping to breathe, "I can't believe it! She knows Chihiro, Haku! Well, rather, she's her cousin. I can see the resemblance now. This fixes everything! Finally we can get that witch Yubaba-"

She was stopped by a pale hand covering her mouth, Haku glared at the woman silencing her.

Ryumiko frowned, "Yubaba? As in, the witch with a twin and a giant baby, Yubaba?"

Haku nodded, "Yes there is such a person."

Her frown deepened, "But then... you're really a dragon and that outside was a bath house for spirits?"

The two spirits exchanged glances before Haku asked a question that had been nagging at him, "Although Chihiro told you all of this, you actually believed it? At your age? I would expect a child to be fooled by such stories."

Ryumiko blushed a bit, not really noticing that she had done that, "W-well you could say that... but I really wanted to know what was beyond the tunnel! Chihiro would never even let me near-"

"And for a good reason!" interrupted Haku with a stern glare. Ryumiko frowned, already feeling annoyed that the boy looked down at her as if she were a five year old child. Before she could voice her opinions on this matter, Haku flicked a glance to the door and then nodded at Rin.

"I must leave. Ryumiko will stay here with you Rin but make sure she doesn't leave the house during the day and that she never goes near the bath house. Understood?" Haku ordered, making his way to the front door.

"Yeah yeah whatever you overgrown serpent..." Rin mumbled.

Without another word, Haku vanished, leaving Ryumiko alone with Rin. Almost immediately, Rin was up and pulling out a spare futon from a closet.

"Do you know if Chihiro's coming here too?" Rin asked.

A sharp pain hit Ryumiko's chest upon remembering her cousin. It seemed that they needed Chihiro's help and soon. More than anything Ryumiko wished Chihiro would come back... but her cousin had no mind for 'stories' and 'dreams' anymore. Chihiro wasn't going to come back easily... if not at all.

"Um... that is... I don't know," Ryumiko answered as obscurely as she could, getting the feeling that she didn't quite want to know what would happen if Chihiro never came.

She follwed Rin into her new temporary room, her heart skipping a beat when she saw it. It looked exactly like Chihiro's bedroom... only the walls were white instead of pink and there were no posters of the latest idols decorating them. Also, the cupboard where Chihiro kept her sketchbooks with the drawings of the Spirit World was gone. Ryumiko figured it wouldn't take her long to get used to her new room.

Hello again! Sorry it took forever! I'm finding it really hard to keep up with all these stories so I'm going to make a series of (many) small chapters on this story! Don't murder me!

Thank-yous to:

ultima-owner

viettnvt

Frenchlily8

cynthiarox66

TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1

I loved getting reviews from you!

REVIEW PLEASE!