Chihiro sat outside of her cousin's room, thinking quietly to herself. Retsu was already firmly planted at Ryumiko's bedside, vigilantly keeping watch, so she figured there was no real reason for her to be hanging around in the room doing nothing. Although now that she thought about it, she was still doing nothing, only this time she was in the hallway sitting with her back against the wall like some kind of guard dog. She contemplated the chaos that had been created up to this point.

Once Rin and Retsu had cleaned her cousin's wounds, Yukaoi dragged her brother out of the room so that she and Rin could change Ryumiko's clothes. After that, Retsu and Yukaoi fought about something to do with one of them going back to the Dragon Clan; in which, if she heard them arguing correctly, Yukaoi wanted him to go get something and Retsu really did not want to leave Ryumiko. Clearly, Retsu had emerged victorious as evident by his prescence in Ryumiko's room and the absence of one white-haired dragoness. As soon as that debacle ended, Rin and Haku struck up trouble of their own with their ceaseless bantering in the kitchen. Chihiro could still hear low mumbles from the floor below that hinted at their continued war of well-worded sarcasm.

She sighed exasperatedly, before beginning to worry about the world of the living. She was only supposed to come here to retrieve her wandering cousin before immediately returning home, to end her mother's frantic search. Now she had been in the Spirit Realm two days longer than originally planned and she bit her bottom lip thinking about how her mother must be feeling about this matter. Heck, she'd probably already called her father who was supposed to be on a three month business trip in Europe in her panic.

Though as much as she wanted to just take her cousin home and pretend that Ryumiko had been kidnapped to explain her cuts and bruises, now not only did she have a witch hunting the both of them down, but her cousin, the very person she had come to get, was unable to come home with her... not unless they defeated Yubaba first. She closed her eyes and thought about her rather grim decisions.

Either way she chose, she'd end up abandoning people she loved. If she stayed to free Ryumiko and the others, she would be letting her mother and father believe that both their daughter and niece (who was pretty much another daughter anyways) had disappeared, been kidnapped or worse. And who knew how long that would take? If she went back home to reassure her parents that she was okay, she'd be abandoning her cousin, Haku and the others to either a life of enslavement under Yubaba or an existence restricted to the boundaries of the Spirit World, as they had said they could not defeat Yubaba without her help.

To live a normal life at the price of her friend's freedom, or to let her parents think they'd never see her or Ryumiko again...

"Chihiro?" came a soft voice, much closer to her ear than she deemed comfortable and taking her by suprise by sneaking up on her without her realising.

She jumped a little from the shock of being caught off guard and turned to face the speaker who had appeared beside her. Her startled brown eyes locked with forest green and she took a sharp intake of breath as she was suddenly acutely aware of how close those eyes were. Leaning back a little to put some distance between Haku and herself, she wondered if the incessant fluttering of her heart was caused by Haku surprising her or Haku himself.

Deciding to let the question be left unanswered, she softly mumbled, "What do you want, Haku?" Though it came out a little colder than she intended.

She noticed him wince a little from the icy tone of her voice but sat beside her nonetheless, quickly masking his hurt with an expression of indifference."How is Ryumiko?" he started.

"Fine. She's still sleeping though. According to Rin her injuries look worse than they really are," she summarised, trying to cut off the conversation. She did want to resolve the problems between them, she really did, but she didn't know how to begin; her thoughts were already consumed by the choice of staying or leaving.

As if he had read her mind, he asked, "Ryumiko can't leave unless Yubaba either lifts the barrier of her own free will or dies, and at the current moment, I think the latter seems to be the most likely to occur. Will you return to the Living?"

She pursed her lips in frustration and replied, surprising even herself with her lack of reluctance to discuss her problems with him, "I don't know. If I leave, I would relieve my parents of worry, but be condemning Ryumiko and nearly the entire Spirit World, which I may never see again, to Yubaba's wrath. I would help more people if I stayed to defeat Yubaba, but I don't know how long that would take, or if I'll even make it out of here alive. I know it's selfish to effectively sacrifice hundreds of spirits just so I can be with my parents, but I can't stop worrying about them and thinking about my odds of even seeing them again. I'll probably end up staying, but I just wish I could tell them that Ryumiko and I are okay..."

Her words drifted off as she pictured her parents at home, waiting to hear news of their safety and return. It twisted at her heart but at the same time, the thought of leaving Ryumiko, Haku, Rin, and all her friends in the Spirit World twisted just as much.

"You won't die," Haku stated promptly.

Chihiro turned to face him and corrected him, "I could."

Haku returned her gaze and spoke with absolute certainty, "But you won't."

She frowned at him, "How can you know that? Yubaba's got a lot of incentive to try and kill me."

He leaned in a little, his eyes boring into hers and his voice low, "I won't let her touch you."

It was spoken with such intensity that she was sure her heart did a little flip flop in her chest. Her mind was cheering happily in silence that Haku was being so protective but the little voice in her head reminded her of something that stopped Chihiro from getting ahead of herself.

"What about Yukaoi?" she almost grumbled defeatedly.

Haku blinked in confusion, wondering how on earth Yukaoi was brought up into the conversation. "What does Yukaoi have to do with this?"

Avoiding his gaze and choosing to glare at her feet, she spoke, "Aren't you in love with her?"

Haku's mind reeled, only one word entering his thoughts, 'What?' Did he not make it clear when they first discussed this that he held no romantic feelings towards the dragoness and that the only mutual feelings between them were those of being allies against Yubaba? Taking in her upset expression, he figured that she was completely unaware of how he felt towards her, even though he was quite certain he'd attempted to convey them before.

Before Haku even had time to think about what he was doing, he reached out and gently turned her head to face him again, "Chihiro, I'm not in love with Yukaoi, and she is also not in love with me. I lo-"

"Haku! You brainless beast!" Rin yelled loudly, interrupting him mid-sentence. He growled lowly, severely annoyed that the sable spirit had ruined a very important conversation.

He stood up as he spoke with a hint of disappointment, "We will have to finish this conversation later."

Chihiro watched with thoughtful brown eyes as he walked back down the hallway, shouting back at Rin irritatedly. She remained frozen where she sat, wondering what Haku was going to say before he was stopped. At least now she was quite sure that she was wrong about Yukaoi, but now a sort of anxiousness was growing, desperately wishing that she'd had the chance to hear the rest of that sentence.

Spirits immediately cleared the path as Yukaoi stormed through the Dragon Clan fortress's marble hall. It was unusual for them to see the usually immaculate and elegant dragoness with her long hair in a wind-swept mess, her stride bordering on angry stomping and a fierce scowl etched on her face. She looked quite ready to murder anyone that dared to so much as attempt a conversation with her. Only those that knew her well enough, which existed in very few numbers, would have recognised her behaviour and unkempt appearance, coming to the correct conclusion that she had just argued with her brother and lost... badly.

She rounded a corner sharply then slammed open the doors to her brother's quarters with far more force than required. Once she finally found everything she was looking for she slammed the doors shut again and made her way directly towards her room, earning more concerned stares by growling as she stalked, carrying a large and rather irregular shaped bag over her shoulder, probably misshapen from what various contents it held.

Yukaoi, having both her hands occupied carrying Retsu's belongings, kicked her doors open and grabbed a much smaller bag before kicking them shut again with much difficulty. One poor spirit even offered to assist her in carrying one of the bags for her to wherever she needed to take them, only to be rejected by a lethal glare. She made her way straight into the clan leaders' hall, ignoring the guard's protests that she had entered without having arranged a meeting beforehand. Because of the lack of warning, only two leaders were present in the hall and were both startled by Yukaoi's sudden appearance.

One was the leader of the dragons in the far south, able to be recognised by the short coal black hair and equally black attire. The other, the one with long copper brown hair, she believed to be the leader of the area she was in, as he was always present somewhere within the Dragon Clan Fortress. From what she knew about the two, they never got along very well, although she did not know why.

Straightening her back and putting on a false smile that was so sweet it almost made the two clan leaders cringe, she spoke with as much politeness as she could muster, "My apologies, but I feel I should quickly update on our progress before I leave." When they indicated for her to proceed with her report, she informed them, "My brother and I have located both prophecised humans and placed them under our protection along with the dragon Kohaku and the sorceress Zeniba. At present, all that needs attention now is retrieving our power and ridding the Spirit World of Yubaba."

"That is all you have to report?" asked the dark haired leader of the south, to which she nodded her response.

The copper haired leader indicated lazily to the luggage slung over her shoulder with a finger and inquired, "What do you require that for?"

To this question, her scowl crept back onto her face and she grimaced. "They are supplies we did not have time to collect until now."

At her expression of pure uninhibited irritation, they chose to leave the matter alone and dismissed her. She left the fortress quickly, grumbling a little more before shifting to her dragon form and speeding back to Zeniba's.

Back in the clan leader's hall, the dark-haired dragon smirked murmured to himself with a wide smirk, "It will not be long now..."

Chihiro eyed the red haired dragon from her new position on Yukaoi's bed opposite Ryumiko's. She wasn't sure how, but it was as if the dragon's relationship with her cousin deepened with each passing second, despite the fact that Ryumiko was fast asleep and Retsu had hardly said a word. She could see it in his eyes; they never strayed far from her still form and there was a depth to his eyes that quickly vanished when they looked at another. Briefly, she wondered if it was something instinctual dragons had, then frowned a little when she discovered that a wall had now been placed between Ryumiko and herself.

Her cousin was a dragon. And a dragon spirit at that as well. Ryumiko was not only inhuman, but her cousin now belonged on an entirely different plane of existence. Though she was sure they would maintain a sisterly bond, Chihiro knew it was possible that there were things beyond her human reckoning that Ryumiko would eventually have to learn about herself. That was a side of Ryumiko she'd never really be able to be a part of.

"Hey Retsu," she started, to which the dragon turned to look at her with an expression that gave her the impression that he wasn't even aware she'd been sitting there until she had spoken. "Has Ryumiko... said anything about staying in the Spirit World?"

He hummed lightly, then said, "She mentioned once that she wasn't sure she could become the leader of the Dragon Clan, though she never declared an aversion to staying."

"Oh... What do you think she'll do?" she asked, watching his reaction.

Retsu glanced at the sleeping girl once then said to her, "I would not know what she will do. Ryumiko's actions tend to be a mystery to everyone else until the time she chooses to reveal them. I think there is a high chance she will return to your world, but-"

His words drifted off as his gaze trailed back to Ryumiko's face, and from the expression that was as bright as day in those golden eyes, Chihiro could tell exactly how that sentence was going to end. Ryumiko will most likely want to return to the living world, but Retsu wanted her to stay.

"And you, are you going to stay here?" Retsu asked.

To this, Chihiro gave a short laugh and stared wistfully at her feet, "I guess it depends on how it all turns out. I've got a lot waiting for me back home, and my first reason for staying isn't exactly the same as it was eight years ago..."

"Your first reason?"

"Uh, well, when I first left Haku, I decided that when he came back for me I would go live with him in the Spirit World, but, I'm not so sure that's going to happen now. So I'll wait and see," she told him.

"And if he returned your affections?" he asked further.

Her head snapped back up to meet his and she gaped like a fish out of water, "I - I - Aff - My affections? I - I don't think there's those kinds of feelings between us anymore!"

Retsu held back the urge to grin and tell the girl that the outwardly stoic dragon was just as, if not more so in love with her as she so clearly was with him. Besides, if he did tell her, he was sure Kohaku would disembowel him where he stood.

Instead, he managed an ambiguous, "Okay."

It was just after dark when Yukaoi returned, filling the bedroom doorway with a vehement glare fixated on her brother. It was clear to her that he had not emerged from the room since she left and she fumed all the more knowing it. Chihiro noticed the dragoness long before Retsu did and visibly shuddered at the icy demeanor Yukaoi had returned with.

Before Chihiro could warn the red haired dragon, Yukaoi dropped the giant bag she had retrieved from the Dragon Clan's fortress on his head. Turning to glare at his sister while clutching at the new ache on his head, she sneered, "There. That's everything you said you needed. Anything else?"

Retsu smirked a little and rummaged through the bag before turning back to Yukaoi. "Nope that's all!" he answered in an overly cheery voice.

Once Yukaoi had stalked back out of the room with only the soft whisper of her dress to signal her exit, Chihiro asked, "What did you make Yukaoi get for you that made her so angry?"

"Nothing much, just some armour I didn't get before I left the fortress," he answered nonchalantly.

She frowned, "Then why was she so mad?"

"Hmm. I think it would be because we argued about who was going to go retrieve our belongings and the result of our argument were less than pleasing in my sister's point of view... the fact that she hates to lose could have something to do with it," he said with an amused smile.

Chihiro raised her eyebrows, "She was that mad just because she had to go get a few things instead of you?"

Retsu stared into her brown eyes with an expression that was suddenly serious, "She hates to lose. And this was simply a petty argument. When she loses something worthwhile, she is indeed a force to be reckoned with..."

So ehehe... I'M AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG EVERYBODY! I had so long to write and I PUT IT OFF! Anyways, so this was more of a character development chappie... Uh so yeah, not much to say other than my sincere apologies!

Oh! If the ending seems a little abrupt, it's because I'll be elaborating on what Retsu said in the next chappie!

Many thanks to you dear reviewers!

Kattis (Yay! I hope this chapter didn't disappoint! Thank you so much for your review!)

DemonMiko Jenna (Oh yes, plenty more ChihiroXHaku ;3 I'm glad you like my story! Thank you for your review!)

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WoodsWolf (I had a look at that story, and it was quite interesting :P I'm glad you are enjoying my story. Thank you so much for reviewing!)

Tearing Rain (Thank you so much for your review! To be honest I was spending more time trying to think of how Haku and Chihiro should reunite than actually writing it that it took so long! Many apologies for that but there'll definitely be plenty of those moments to look forward to :3)

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