-Chihiro's thoughts were cut short as she heard a sharp whistle echo through the air. Her head shot up and she froze in place, scanning the sky for whatever was making the sound.
"What are you doing?" A voice spoke up from behind her, startling Chihiro so badly that she tripped over her feet when she tried to turn around and fell backward into the murky water.—
A loud splash echoed through the surrounding area; despite the water being like sludge. Alyssa, who was the one that had startled Chihiro, was splashed with watery mud as the other girl fell in.
Unfortunately, with the way the water was, Chihiro could get enough of a grasp to swim to the surface and she could feel herself slowly sinking in the water. She didn't dare open her eyes, the water feeling as if it was scratching at her skin. She didn't want her eyeballs scratched out by the dirty water. Thankfully, though, she felt a hand grab onto the collar of her shirt and haul her body up out of the muck. "Jesus Chihiro, if I'd of known you scared that badly, I wouldn't have snuck up on you like that," Alyssa said dryly, as the other girl coughed and sputtered on the bit of dirty water that had gone down her throat.
"Yeah, right," Chihiro mumbled under her breath, coughing again. She cringed at the taste in her mouth, like she'd just tried to rinse down a mouthful of mud, "Ugh, yuck."
"Well you didn't expect it to taste good, did yah?" The smaller girl had a tiny smile on her lips, scanning Chihiro's mud covered body. She tried very hard not to laugh, now that the mini-crisis was over.
A scowl fell across Chihiro's lips as she watched Alyssa cover up a snort of amusement. "If it wasn't for the fact that I think you'd drown, I toss you in there so you could feel what it's like!"
Alyssa's grin faded quickly as her lips formed a pout. "That's not very nice, especially when I came to get you. You know, I could just leave you here and let you walk to wherever it is you're going… Where are you going anyway? Why aren't you still at Zeniba's cottage where it's –safe-?" Alyssa stressed 'safe' as if being on the train tracks walking toward the bathhouse was less safe then being at the cottage.
Chihiro rolled her eyes. "I'd still be there if it wasn't for the fact that Zeniba's cottage is no longer standing."
"What do you mean, 'no longer standing'?" Alyssa frowned, confused.
"I mean, Zeniba's cottage was burnt to the ground while I went out for a walk," she answered in a mumble, getting up from her crouched position on the ground. The rough metal of the tracks was starting to dig into her knees; she knew she'd bruise if she knelt there any longer.
"What happened? Oh boy, Zeniba's going to be pissed when she finds out! What'd you do!"
Chihiro immediately scowled, sending a glare toward Alyssa that could pierce through stone. "I didn't –do- anything! Some whack-job horse lady burnt it to the ground and then proceeded to try and bodily drag me through the dirt just so she could 'take me to her master'," Chihiro snapped, imitating an almost zombie-like voice as she said the last part.
Alyssa snorted in amusement at the description but she held in back. This wasn't good, and wasn't a time to be laughing at Chihiro. "We better get back to the bathhouse. I came to get you; Deruku should be gone by the time we get back."
"Should be? Or will be?" The older girl said dryly. "I don't see what the big deal is anyway. Who cares if he sees' me? It would have been safer being there then it was staying here in the middle of nowhere."
"It doesn't matter," Alyssa interrupted, changing the subject quickly. "Either way, we need to get going before you catch a chill."
Chihiro had already started to walk in the direction of the bathhouse, dragging her feet with each step, though she paused to shoot an odd look toward Alyssa before continuing on. "Why would you care if I caught a chill?"
The younger girl stomped a foot on the tracks, ignoring the singing pain that vibrated up her leg after she did it. "That's not the point! Let's just hurry up and get there, alright?"
"I'm the one who's walking, I don't see you moving," Chihiro shouted back over her shoulder.
Alyssa was left blinking in surprise, having not realized that Chihiro was getting to be quite a distance away from her. To busy with her inner monologue, Chihiro guessed, chuckling under her breath.
With a broad yawn, Chihiro closed her eyes momentarily to get them to stop watering. Some of the murky water that still clung to her forehead had dripped into them, making them sting rather painfully.
She blinked once, letting the salty tears run down her cheeks before she carefully wiped them away with a single digit. Running footsteps came up behind her and she smiled faintly. About time she caught up, Chihiro thought in amusement. Though she didn't turn around to see the sly smirk on Alyssa's changed face.
A shriek escaped Chihiro's lips as she was swooped up off the ground by a giant mouth and tossed on a strange scaly back. "OI!" Chihiro snarled, realizing just from the coloring of the dragon-like creature that it was Alyssa. "Jesus, you almost gave me a heart attack. Again!"
A growled laugh escaped Alyssa's maw as she lunged off of the tracks, feet just barely skidding across the surface of the ocean as she flapped the giant iridescent blue wings attached to her back and took off into the air, headed toward the north; where the bathhouse was located. "Aw, did I make the poor little princess wet herself?"
"No," Chihiro snapped as the words Alyssa 'spoke' echoed in her mind.
"Sure, sure," Alyssa tried not to roar with laughter. She knew she was being a little cruel, but at least it took Chihiro's mind off of what had happened.
It didn't take to long before they reached the bathhouse, though Chihiro had passed out cold on Alyssa's back about an hour before. The shape shifter landing gently on the bridge that ran over a small part of the ocean and walked the rest of the way toward the door which opened with a snap. Carissa came running out and only paused momentarily at seeing the large dragon staring at her with large watery blue eyes. "Chihiro!"
The girl in question let out a small grunt in response before rolling over…right off of Alyssa's back and onto the rather hard cobblestones that littered the pathway to the door. "Owe…" Chihiro groaned, sitting up and rubbing her head. She cringed, though, when she felt her hair. It felt disgusting. The 'sludge' as she preferred to call it had dried all over her, leaving her itchy and uncomfortable. And her hair feeling like someone had dragged her through a thorn bush. "Yuck."
Carissa rushed over to her, an apologetic look on her face. "Sorry! Didn't mean to startle you," she said quickly, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.
Alyssa changed back to her human form, looking like her usual 12-year-old self. "Trust me, she needed some sense knocked back into that head of hers," the girl muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Carissa to hear. "Where's everyone else?"
"Oh! They're up in Yubaba's office, I was asked to come down here to make sure Chihiro got here okay and bring her up!" The newly hyper-active girl replied with a smile.
"Of…course you were. Anyway, Chihiro, let's get going. I'm sure you want a bath," Alyssa mused, scanning the girl over as she stared at herself in disgust.
"Bath would be nice," Chihiro mumbled as she got up from the ground. "A bed would be nice to, you're not very comfortable."
Alyssa's eyebrow twitched faintly, "I'm not meant to be a bed, yah know."
"I know," Chihiro answered, grinning faintly. "But it'd still be nice if you were."
Carissa glanced curiously between the two before she looked at Chihiro with a raised eyebrow, only just now noticing that the girl was covered form head to toe with dirt and smudged mud. "What in the world happened to you?"
"Don't ask," Chihiro sighed, fingers twitching. She wanted so badly to rub her eyes, but she didn't want dirt and whatever else was on her –in- her eyes. "Let's just hurry up and see what Yubaba wants. I'd like to clean up sometime today."
Chihiro walked in the door of the bathhouse and headed toward the elevator, letting the other two catch up after she'd already entered it. She roughly shoved the handle up, the elevator door closing as it shot upward. She stared blankly out at the floors that they passed, ignoring everything for the time being. She was starting to get a little grouchy. After all, she'd had a rather bad day. Getting attacked and then falling into the nasty water that now made up the ocean wasn't her idea of a 'vacation'. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
When the elevator dinged to tell them that they were at the top floor, the doors swung open and they exited, walking down the long hallway before they reached a pair of closed doors. Chihiro didn't even bother knocking; she just glared at the doorknob. It huffed and snapped the doors open; the sound of banging echoing down the hall as all of the doors snapped open. All three girls walked silently until they reached Yubaba's office.
A gasp tore through the room when Zeniba's eyes landed on Chihiro's rather…messy form. "What in the world happened to you, dear?" She said, hurrying over and fussing over the girl.
"A lot," she answered, forcing herself to put up with the fussing. She didn't want to snap at the elderly woman that was always so kind to her. But she really just wanted to go have a nice hot bath and crawl into some clean clothes… and her bed.
"It looks like you got run over train or something," Yubaba said dryly, scanning the mess that Chihiro was making with each step she took across the carpet. "And please stand still; I don't need mud drug through my office."
"What… did you want?" Chihiro said slowly, barely holding her temper in.
"Just wanted to make sure you arrived here safely. I wasn't to sure about letting Alyssa go and get you. I was going to send Haku, but she didn't seem to think it was a good idea, so I let her go with the condition that you were to be brought up to my office when you arrived," Yubaba explained, looking bored. "Though I see you managed to make it back alive. Now, if you wouldn't mind telling us what happened on the way here?"
Yubaba and Zeniba stared at Chihiro expectantly and she shifted uncomfortably. She didn't really want to explain what happened. Zeniba's going to be so upset, Chihiro though miserably.
"Some horse thing attacked Chihiro before I got there. Burnt down Zeniba's cottage while Chi' was out and then proceeded to try to beat the crap out of her and got knocked unconscious in the process by a tree. Then in Chi's wisdom, she decided that she would walk back to the bathhouse across the tracks, and then I found her," Alyssa said in a bored tone. "I startled her and she fell into the yucky water, and I saved her, and then we flew here. That all you needed to know?"
Chihiro stared at her dirty shoes, sheepish. She hadn't wanted the story to be told quite like it had, but she supposed it was rather blunt and to the point. Maybe a little to blunt by the stunned looks on the twin sister's faces.
"My cottage..? But Chihiro, you're not hurt, are you?" Zeniba quickly changed the subject to the other girl's wellbeing.
"I'm fine," Chihiro answered meekly. "Sorry about your home… I really didn't mean for it to happen, but when I came back it was already burnt down."
Zeniba smiled and shook her head, letting ray wisps of hair fall into her face. "Don't worry about that old place, dear. I can always make a new one. Now, Carissa, why don't you take Chihiro to go take a bath? She looks dead on her feet. Then some sleep, I think."
Carissa nodded with a smile, and tugged Chihiro out of the office, closing the doors behind her and continuing down the hall. "Come on, I'm sure you're dying for a bath, huh?"
Chihiro just nodded her head with a yawn, smiling inwardly. She was happy that Zeniba hadn't been angry with her. But then when she thought about it, she wouldn't have been able to do anything about it anyway.
"Chihiro?" a voice startled her from her thoughts and she glanced up, her brown eyes meeting worried emerald. "Are you okay?"
Chihiro bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. She shouldn't even be talking to him. So, instead of ignoring Kohaku, she muttered a quiet, "I'm fine," before walking past him and into the elevator that he had just exited from. She could feel his green eyes burning into her as the elevator lowered her from sight. A sigh escaped her lips and she closed her eyes.
Carissa stayed quiet, not wanting to bother her obviously stressed out friend. So far, she'd just been going along with everything that had happened. And she couldn't say that she disliked it here. They both quietly exited the elevator when it stopped on the correct floor and Chihiro went to take a bath while Carissa went to the womans' room's to get some new clothing for Chihiro to wear.
The sound of running water was soon the only thing that was heard in one of the private bathrooms as Chihiro filled up the tub. She had put an herbal soak token in the hole in the wall and now warm water was pouring into the medium sized bath. When she thought it had filled up enough, she tugged lightly on the string connected to the hose that the water ran out of; stopping the flow of water and causing the hose to go back into the wall.
Stripping off clothing was difficult, Chihiro mused, when it was insistent on sticking to you like a second skin. Though, she eventually managed to get all of her clothing off and shove it to a corner before she crawled into the bath.
A sigh escaped her lips as she closed her eyes, holding her breath to dunk herself underneath the water, scrubbing viciously at her face to get the caked mud off of it before she resurfaced; head leaning back against the marble edge of the tub. She stayed quiet, breathing in the scent of mint that drifted from the water as she tried to relax. She could feel the cuts and scrapes that she'd gotten in her tustle with the horse/woman now that the water was trying to clean them. Her cheek stung quite a bit more, though, and she frowned.
Chihiro opened her eyes and stared, at the ceiling above her. She started to remember back to the dream she'd had, that had caused her to want to go for a walk in the first place. The image of the new 'her' as she started to call it swept through her mind. Beautiful, was the only word she could put to how her reflection had looked. 'But was that really me?' she thought, her eyes closing half-way. 'It couldn't have been. And who was that woman?'
The millions of thoughts went through her mind now that she didn't think her life was in danger. 'And then there's that girl in the woods… She was strange looking,' Chihiro mused. 'Maybe another spirit, but I didn't think anyone else lived out there. How strange… I wonder if I'll get to meet her again. Although, she didn't seem very friendly…'
A knock on the screen door knocked her from her thoughts and she looked over, making sure the water was covering her nude form as it swept open, revealing Lin. Chihiro's eyes widened and she forced herself not to lunge out of the bath to give the older girl a hug.
"Hey, Sen," Lin laughed, seeing that the younger girl was ready to jump out of the tub to tackle her in a hug. "Looks like you got yourself into quite a mess, huh?"
"You could say that," Chihiro said sheepishly, giving the older girl a wide smile. "Where have you been? I went looking for you when I first got here, but I didn't see you anywhere."
"I just got back from taking a trip to Gladius, it was my hometown. I went to visit my little brother, but when I found out that you were back, I had to come back and see you. You left rather…abruptly last time," Lin responded as she leaned against the side of the tub, shooting her a worried look. "Why was that?"
"I…" Chihiro trailed off as she went to answer, flashbacks from that day rushing through her mind giving her a migraine. "I just… saw something that I didn't want to see." She left her answer very vague, though understanding lit up in Lin's eyes.
"You saw them together, didn't you?"
Chihiro just nodded, her eyes downcast as she tried to hide her watery eyes. She thought she'd gotten over it, that she'd be able to forget and move on. But coming back here was never in those plans. "I promised myself that I would never come back… But I didn't have a choice. Everything that is going on around here, is affecting my world."
Lin's eyes softened in understanding, though they hardened a little at the mention of the things that were going on in the spirit world. "Yeah, ever since the Queen died, everything else seems to be dying with her. But I think it also has something to do with our new 'king'," she said the word 'king' as if it disgusted her.
"Have you ever met him? This… Deruku guy?"
"Once. And I never want to meet the asshole again. He likes to pretend that he's nice, but the darkness that emenates from his soul is pure evil. He gave me the shivers just being around him, like I had to make sure I never left my back turned to him," Lin explained quietly. "Trust me, if you haven't met him, you don't want too."
"Yeah… Yubaba didn't want him to see me. That's why I look like this," Chihiro grumbled lightly.
Lin laughed quietly. "Well, some shampoo should cheer you up. Your hair looks like one of Kimaji's pets was trying to make a nest out of it," she teased as she handed over a slim white bottle.
"Thanks," Chihiro grinned sheepishly.
"No problem, kiddo," Lin said as she draped a towel over a chair in the room, and set a pair of clothes neatly on the chair. "Once your done, get dressed and I'll have something brought for you to eat. You're probably starving. Than you can get to sleep."
Chihiro finished up quickly and crawled out of the bath after draining it and making sure everything was left tidy. Drying herself off, she quickly through on the pair of white baggy pants and put on a loose black halter top, tying it tightly at the back of her neck. Then she dried her hair and threw the towel in a bin at the corner of the bath.
Making it to the room before anyone came back with food, she yawned and sat herself on the balcony, overlooking the ocean and the train tracks. The sight used to be absolutely breathtaking, but now… now it was almost to sad to look at.
A sigh escaped her lips as she fell back to look at the sky. Even it looked different. No stars, she a black abyss that she felt like she could fall into at any moment if she stared for to long. Quickly, though, the feeling of the air moving through her newly cleaned hair made her eyes flutter shut. She could almost imagine herself as that small 11-year-old girl that held hands with Kohaku as they fell through the sky. They fell and smiled at each other, never letting go. It was one of the happiest memories that she could remember. She let it take her into her dreams, and finally fell asleep.
When Lin came into the room with food, she didn't have the heart to wake the girl up. For once, since she'd seen 'Sen' again, the girl finally looked peaceful. Picking up a blanket, she draped it over the other girl and tucked a fluffed up pillow beneath her head before shutting off the lights in the room and exiting. She'd let her sleep for a few hours before waking her up to eat something.
Hopefully, that's good enough for now. I think that's the lonnngessttt chapter I've written, and my fingers are kinda sore from non-stop typing. o.o
So, I hope you enjoyed it, and please review!
Also, I didn't fully edit this, so if there are any mistakes, please point them out and I'll be happy to correct them!