So before you all start sharpening your pitchforks to hunt me down, please know that I am not doing this to add another twist or prolong this or any nonsense like that. It is an important part of the story line that will be explained during the climax of the arc. Though you may grumble and be mad at me now, I promise you that it will all make sense in a rapid order fashion later on. Also if you are mad now, wait until you see what I got planned for the end of the arc... (starts barricading the house in preparation for the desperate hordes).
I may or may not have destroyed my computer hinge and the wire keeping it alive is frayed. I ordered a new laptop, but should I fall off the face of the internet and miss the next update it is not because I have forsaken you readers for in person company. Next update will be on July 6th since I have to fly home for my best friend's wedding and visit the crazy family again before I leave the country for medical school. It will be my first wedding ever, and though I have never written a wedding scene (since when I'm reading that's usually the part where I tune out and skim ahead to the more *cough cough* questionable sections), I hope that the experience will give me some ideas should I consider writing an epilogue.
Thanks for your continued reviews and support. They always make my day and give me the kick in the ass I need to sit down and write. You guys are the best.
Chapter 18:
Waking up slightly later than normal the next morning, Chihiro laid in bed with a hand over her lips. The memory of the feather light kiss burned in her memory despite the slight haze of alcohol that clouded it. His kiss had stopped her heart, or so it had felt, and the sparks that sprung forth in her chest were on the verge of painful. He had barely given her a chance to respond before pulling away from her with a hand over his heart. No words fell from her mouth as she looked up at him in surprise and applied pressure to the area where her heart had rapidly resumed fluttering. He mirrored her expression as if the electricity from her heart had stung him as well. As he stepped even further away from her, the magic that seemed to hold them dissipated. Muttering a quick apology, Haku had become instantly distant and awkward as he avoided looking at her. The look of regret that marred his handsome features weighed her tongue down and she wondered what had just passed between them. Why had he stopped? It seemed like only an instant later and they were back in the flat. With a quick bow, Haku abandoned her for the night, leaving her to reel in the confusing aftermath. What had gone wrong? Why had he stopped? Berating herself for letting the strange sensation distract her from the opportunity to explore their seemingly mutual feelings, Chihiro got up to face the day. The hair pins that he had given her were settled neatly in their box on the nightstand shining in the moonlight. Closing the box quickly with a smile, she slipped it into the secret hatch in her wardrobe with her human clothes and got dressed. When she opened the door, she was pleased to see a large bouquet of red roses waiting for her with a small note. Only a single word was written upon the note and its meaning quickly reversed her smile.
Chihiro was hanging up wet sheets to dry in the open third breezeway with Lin in the late afternoon when she found a pure white stone with black writing. Reading the message silently, she slipped it into her uniform pocket with a smile and grabbed another wet sheet to hang. It was the third stone she had found today, but it was finally the one she had been waiting for. Chihiro had explained her deal with Haku to Lin shortly after finding the first stone, but that didn't stop the weasel spirit from rolling her eyes. Giving her an annoyed glance, Lin hung up the sheet in her hands.
"I swear it's like he's trying to court you. Except dragons are known for giving powerful gifts to their mates during courtship and he's giving you these worthless little pebbles. It's like this is all some big joke to him," Lin muttered. At the word courtship, Chihiro blushed a deep red that caught Lin's attention.
"Has he given you anything else of worthwhile?"
"Well…," Chihiro started and was bombarded by a wet sheet to the face.
"Out with it woman or you'll be scrubbing the big tubs for the rest of the night," Lin threated as Chihiro dragged the sheet off of her face. Hanging it up, she shot a sly smirk towards the weasel.
"He might have gotten me those hair sticks that we saw at the market when we were on a date yesterday." Lin froze mid hang to stare at her. How had she not mentioned that? Instantly ruffled in outrage, Lin launched another few wet sheets at Chihiro, who caught them with a small smirk and a whole lot of grace.
"I'm your best friend and you didn't even tell me you were going on a date!? Spill this instant! I want all of the details." Chihiro rehashed the previous day in painstaking detail as Lin listened enraptured. Confident that her plan had made progress, but weary that Haku had backed away after initiating the kiss, Lin was left with more questions than answers. After picking over every little detail of the date, they launched into a discussion about what the kiss could have meant. Surely the kiss meant he liked her as more than friends, but if so then why did he pull away like that? Lin advised her to hunt down the hiding dragon and confront him, but Chihiro felt skittish about being so forward. Deciding that she needed to see the hair sticks again, Lin asked Chihiro to show her. When she admitted to having packed them away for safe keeping, Lin threw another wet sheet at her in exasperation. If the master of the bathhouse was struggling with his feelings, then by all means she should be wearing his gift loud and proud to assure him that she felt the same. Shoving her out of the breezeway and into the next elevator upwards, they ascended to the empty flat. Chihiro opened the door to her room and swept inside towards the wardrobe as Lin stood awestruck in the doorway. The room was full of fresh flowers in colorful vases and a neat row of colorful stones rested on the window sill.
"And you never thought to mention he was giving you flowers," Lin said as she tried to keep the frustration out of her voice.
"He said it was to keep nightmares away," Chihiro replied back with a shrug. Hearing his words from her lips made her realize how ridiculous that sounded, but she somewhat accepted it. Chihiro popped open the hatch and fetched out the box.
"Of course he said it was to keep nightmares away. He's just as vague and dim witted as you are. I swear you two are meant to be together," Lin mocked with an eye roll. How much of a dope did Chihiro have to be to not see what was right in front of her? Taking the box from her hands, Lin opened it up to take a closer look at the hair sticks. They looked like the same expensive trinkets as she remembered from last time, but now there was a small pulse from them that she could feel from where her fingers grasped the case. Wondering what sort of magic the dragon might have put on them, Lin hovered her hand over the sticks.
"I should have known these stones were moonstone. Moonstone is commonly used by water spirits since the gemstone takes their water magic so well. If it is set in jewelry as these are, I would bet these stones have been charmed for protection and clarity of the mind." Lin closed the box and handed it back to her.
"So you're saying Haku might have done something to these to protect me? He only touched them for a few moments while putting them into my hair," Chihiro trailed off as she thought about their date. The hair sticks hadn't really been out of her sight except while she was sleeping. When did he have time to do magic over them?
"With as much magic as that man has, he probably did it the moment he picked them up. Let me guess, you wore them most of the date last night?" Chihiro nodded her head yes and she put the box back away in the wardrobe. She could almost see Lin sigh in annoyance at the sight of her putting the hair sticks away. As she had explained to Lin earlier, if she was going to be mucking around doing chores about the bathhouse, there was no need to risk dirtying the beautiful hair sticks. Lin thought otherwise, but there were bigger fish to fry…like the missing dragon. "He probably swamped the stones with his magic when he was putting the hair sticks into your hair the second time. Congratulations Chihiro, you are officially the fancy of the most powerful dragon in the Eastern Wetlands. You best figure out what exactly you two are before the festival because you can bet your weight in gold that he will have prospective brides arriving to try and win his hand."
"Prospective brides," Chihiro choked out with a dumbfounded expression. Lin rolled her eyes and began to walk out of the flat towards the elevator. Chihiro hurried after her, shutting the doors as she went. Sometimes Lin really wanted to throttle some sense into both of these idiots. As much as she loved them, they were making her life difficult.
"Yes, prospective brides. Spirits for hundreds of miles around are going to be traveling here for the festival and you can bet that some of them are going to be marriage seekers hoping to tie down the master of the bathhouse. Didn't Yui tell you that? You will be doing that dance of yours on a small boat in the center of the river with hundreds, if not thousands of spirits looking on from the water and land." Chihiro felt her gut drop at the thought of being at the center of attention of so many people. As they stepped into the elevator to go down together, Lin gave a pitiful smirk towards Chihiro.
"It seems like an awful lot of responsibility…"
"Don't sweat it, kid. Just take each step one at a time and you will be fine. The crowds will be nothing once you begin. All you will see is him."
"What if he doesn't answer my call?"
"Trust me, Haku will not let you fail in this matter. Your main concern for now should be learning the dance and demanding some answers from him when he does decide to show his face around here."
Chihiro arrived on time for their usual nightly session and found her teacher missing. Was he really going to bail out, she wondered darkly as she gazed at the fire in the office. She hadn't seen him around the bathhouse all day. Maybe the kiss had been a mistake of their mutual intoxication… The sound of claws on wood sounded from the living room and Chihiro walked in to find Haku in his dragon form. Cocking his large head to the side, his green eyes rolled with a grumble and he shifted into his human form. Greeting him, she was surprised when he brushed past her with averted eyes and awkward blush. He went straight into the office to begin changing it over for their lesson. Tossing her into extended warmups with a passion, Haku didn't give her the opportunity to bring up the events of the night before. When he finally called off warmups, she was bent over grasping her knees as her weak body gasped for air.
"Today we are moving onto new material that unfortunately requires some hands-on demonstrations. We will be covering the basics of ground fighting and grappling." Teaching her the basic falls and the basic holds for grappling, Haku was surprised how quickly she could pick up new techniques from him. Chihiro was an excellent student even when he was trying to rush through the lesson to get away from her. He needed more time to think over what he had done and what he was going to do from here. Every time he thought about their kiss, his brain seemed to stop as it lost itself in the details of the moment. The kiss confirmed his worst suspicions and even though he craved more of her, he needed to keep his feelings under control. Haku was not ready to handle the consequences of his actions.
Chihiro let him go over the new material again as their time began to come to a close. Deciding it was now or never, she found the courage to start the conversation that needed to happen. Unrequited love was something she was familiar with, but if this was her one shot at having her feelings returned then she was going to go for it. Worst case scenario, she could stay with Lin in her room and keep her distance from him until Zeniba returned with an answer.
"We should talk about last night," Chihiro said as she executed the fall properly. Standing up, he gave her a slight push on the shoulders and she performed the fall again.
"I had too much to drink. I'm sorry if the flower apology was unacceptable for my mistake-"
"What if I don't want it to be a mistake?" Haku froze for a moment for a moment as a blush spread across his cheeks. Regaining his composure quickly, he looked down at her challengingly. Mounting her in the first grappling position they covered, she countered his slow motion attack.
"Then I'd tell you that you don't know what you are asking for." Chihiro smirked at him and dislodged his hold over her. Pinning him beneath her, she smiled softly and lowered her eyes to his lips.
"I'm asking for you," she pouted, "Are you trying to tell me that you feel nothing for me?" Inside she was burning in embarrassment at her boldness, but she had to give this a solid chance before she accepted defeat.
"We both know that is not the case," Haku said with a sigh as he lay beneath her calmly. He wanted to be honest with her, but the possibilities of what could happen weighed heavily on his mind. "Chihiro, it's complicated."
"Then why don't we simplify the equation," she whispered letting her body fall gently against his. Biting her lip, Chihiro considered going in for a kiss and sealing her fate. Either he was going to accept her or he was going to turn her away. She needed an answer. Focusing in on her tortured lip, Haku felt himself waver between what was right and what he truly wanted. Flipping her over onto her back and pinning her easily, Haku felt a growl come loose as he kissed her with all of the passion in his heart.
Chihiro opened her mouth and responded to his kiss as she felt the same electricity charge through her chest. As he continued to kiss her, the spark seemed to burn into something painful and her heart seemed to freeze mid beat. Pushing against his grasp on her hands, she felt a surge of panic race through her at the simultaneous pleasure and pain coursing through her. It was a loud cracking sound from her chest that finally tore Haku's lips from hers. Looking thoroughly ravished, Chihiro's hair was free from its ponytail and her lips swollen red. Haku was tempted to lean back down and kiss her again, but the damage he had caused already brought him to a standstill. Slyly using magic, he fixed what he had broken.
"What was-"
"That's the reason we can't do this again. Relationships between spirits and humans are complicated." Standing up and walking a few steps away from her, he wiped his mouth on his sleeve and stared at her with hungry, pleading eyes. "I like you Chihiro, but I can't be with you like this. I'm a spirit. It's best if you remember that from now on."
Turning away from her as he felt the weight of his words rock the world, Haku walked from the room and transformed before flying away. Sitting on the floor for a few moments longer than necessary, Chihiro tried to stop the pain in her chest. She couldn't tell if it was from the kiss or her aching heart anymore. Pushing herself up, she moved mechanically towards the elevator and went to Lin's room. One look at her told the weasel that something had not gone right. Ushering her into the room and sitting her down on the bed, Lin sat cross-legged across from Chihiro impatiently waiting for her to speak.
"Are you going to tell me what happened or just sit there all night," Lin frowned at her and the splatter of rain falling filled the room. A rain storm seemed to be fast at work outside the window.
"He feels the same about me, but it's… complicated. We can't be together in a lot of ways and that's why he won't accept me. It hurts here when he kisses me," Chihiro said pointing to her heart.
"It's supposed to hurt there silly. It is just your heart wanting him," Lin half-heartedly reassured her.
"No, you don't understand. It's happened last time we kissed too. It felt like an electrical shock stopping my heart, but this time when he held the kiss it became painful. I heard a crack in my chest and I thought for a second that something had broken. Seems to be fine now," she said gently palpating the ribs near her heart.
"That's not normal," Lin said dropping her eyes as she considered what might have happened, "There should have been no pain from both of you kissing…" Lin trailed off as her mind raced to the only solution it could. There should have been no pain between them unless Haku was using magic to cause it. Could he have been using his powers to push her away and give her a false reason why they couldn't be together so that he would not completely crush her feelings? Her brows knit together in concentration as Lin tilted between anger and confusion. She couldn't tell Chihiro that, not in her current vulnerable state. Lin wanted to hunt down the dragon and give him a piece of her mind, but the sight of the lonely confused girl in front of her took priority.
"Don't think about it anymore tonight. You aren't gonna get anywhere with it in the sorry state you're in anyways. Leave tomorrow's problems for tomorrow." Standing up, Lin dragged the girl to follow her.
"Where are we going?"
"To the End of the Line. Taka owes me a few drinks and I sure as hell ain't drinkin' alone." Smiling softly at Lin's back as she tagged along, Chihiro let out the sigh she had been holding in. It wouldn't be her first or her last attempted romance in her lifetime, but she seemed so close this time...
Heavy gray skies hung over the town as it began to awaken and Chihiro made her way to the shrine. She wasn't sure if they were going to have practice, but she saw no harm in going to check. It had rained heavily through the night, but the weather seemed like it was going to clear up for the day. Cleansing herself and paying her respects as usual at the shrine, Chihiro went in the side entrance. Calling out for Yui, she went to their practice room only to find it cold and empty. It felt like the life of the building had been sucked away. The shrine had never felt like an abandoned building before, and it made her confident that the crane spirit was not there. Deciding to wait a few minutes to see if she would show, Chihiro started off by taking a closer look at the well that the bell stood over. The water in the well looked murky and turbulent, seeming to clatter noisily against the mossy stones encaging it. The sound of a window clattering in a loose frame caught her attention and she started searching for the window. If a window was not closed properly in its frame, there was a chance rain water could enter the room and damage the tatami that covered most of the shrine floor. Deciding to hunt for the window and latch it properly, Chihiro began exploring the rooms. The majority of the doors on the hallway opened to rooms that resembled the practice room with their tatami floors, painted screen walls, and empty layouts. It wasn't until she reached the second to last door that she found something of interest. Sliding open the door, Chihiro found what appeared to be some sort of record room stacked to the brim with dusty shelves of boxes and scrolls. The smell of old paper and tea surrounded her and she stepped inside with a sense of nostalgia. In many ways the room reminded her of the old library by her house, though granted she didn't think it carried documents nearly as old as these. The sound of a rattling window sounded from the darkness.
Walking between the narrow shelves towards a dim light coming from a grimy window, Chihiro brushed against the boxes on either side. One of the boxes tumbled from its perch onto the floor in front of the window. Clearing her throat of the dust that had come from the impact, she properly secured the latches on the window so that it no longer rattled. She then righted the box and kneeled beside it. Reaching for the weathered papers that had scattered around, she noticed the kanji for human written in fading black ink written on several of them. Chihiro wiped her sleeve through the grime on the window to create a small gap for light to come through and took a closer look at the documents. Though the dates and some of the writing had faded out with time, she could still make out the majority of what appeared to be pages from a personal record. Shifting through the pages, she briefly skimmed the content out of curiosity.
[The village sacrificed a human woman to call forth rain.-.-.-.-.-The Cove spirit saved the human from drowning and has taken her on as a wife through the mating bond, however the girl refused the gift of spirithood. Even now, she sits at the edge of the reef pining away for her family in the village. The ritual was successful in bringing rain to both lands.]
[The human girl has become one of us. Her transformation was forced by the will of her husband and she has not spoken since her awakening. She bleeds constantly from the eyes…-.-.-.-.-.-unsure of what kind of power she holds…-.-.-.-.-.-Shrine is in good condition, but will need better provisions for winter.]
[Today we buried the wife of the Cove spirit and gave her the traditional end-of-life farewell. She committed suicide two nights past while her husband was on the far side of the reef. He has not recovered consciousness yet.]
[Cove spirit went to the Ocean of Souls to see if the girl's spirit had returned to her people and if so, to see if the essence he gave her could be reclaimed. She nor his essence were there. It seems that despite her time as a human she died a true spirit death. ]
[I reached out to the records keeper in the Capital for guidance in regards to the Cove spirit's deteriorating condition. Apparently, suicide amongst converted humans is extremely common and so is the resulting sickness found in the spirit partner.-.-.-.-.-.-Symptoms of the Cove spirit are similar to those commonly found in spirits who have lost their mates and none of the others involved in the conversion ceremony show any symptoms of illness. The records keeper warned that he is mostly to degrade into a Shadow or follow in her footsteps if he cannot learn to live with the emptiness that comes with living without a part of your soul.-.-.-.-.- There are no cases of full recovery. The Capital has put out a notice that no humans shall be considered for conversion until further notice. We lose too many powerful spirits to the blinding powers of love and the inevitability of death.]
[With the Cove spirit's death last week and the slow response of the Capital in bringing forth a new elemental essence to take over the water, the cove has fallen into disarray. The fish have left and the reef is dying quickly. The village has sacrificed three human girls for the return of the fish. All were left to drown.-.-.-.-]
Chihiro startled at the sound of a nearby sliding door slamming shut. The last sheet of paper that she had read fell silently to the floor from her trembling hand. Tossing the papers remaining in her hand back into the box, she quickly slid the box back into place before hurrying towards the door. She had just finished closing the door behind her when Yui rounded the corner looking exhausted beyond compare. Stopping in her tracks at the sight of Chihiro flustered, Yui frowned.
"What are you doing here?"
"I wasn't sure if we were having a lesson today with the rain and all last night, so I thought I'd come take a peek around to see if you were here." It was apparent that Chihiro seemed fairly pale and almost fidgety, but her response had been casual enough. Yui didn't know if it was her overtired mind being sensitive or if there was something truly wrong with the girl. Something didn't ring right with the way she was avoiding eye contact.
"No lesson today. I need to rest. Go back to the bathhouse." Yui walked past her and with a bow, she watched Chihiro hurry towards the exit. As soon as she rounded the corner, Yui walked back and slid open the door to the records room. Peering in, the sight of a single document on the floor beside the window caught her eye. Yui picked up the document and frowned as she read it over. Stuffing the old paper into the less dusty box that it had come from, the frown on her face deepened as she walked off.
[The witch of the Eastern bathhouse delivered a human girl that wandered through the portal to us. It appears that her apprentice has a gift for manipulation since he easily convinced her that the only way for her to go home was to conduct the cleansing ritual for us.-.-.-.-.-.- The girl was not careful in her summoning and was naïve of the magic surrounding us. I had always thought it impossible for me to take a life as a priest, but it was surprisingly easy once I smelled her blood. The apprentice had purposefully nicked her hand before she started the ceremony.-.-.-.-.-.-I slit her throat and powered the cleansing with her blood. I don't believe she felt any pain. I could barely feel anything above the euphoria of the magic surrounding us. Yubaba's promise that human sacrifice would give us tenfold results was an understatement.-.-.-.-.-The threat of the Tainted has subsided and the Eastern border is now maintained.]