Part 2 of the double release. Remember, italicized writing is memory that Chihiro is viewing/experiencing and normal writing is present time.

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Fog swept Chihiro back into the darkness before finally melting away to reveal a torch lit plaza in moonlight. Spirits were shouting in a loud foggy cacophony as Haku made his way around the edge of the crowd. He purposefully kept his eyes from the center of the plaza and his thoughts were guarded as if he were worried someone might be watching them. Whatever was happening there amongst the spirits in the plaza it was obvious he didn't want to be a part of it. Government propaganda reminding spirits to purify daily scattered the closed store fronts that he passed. Chihiro tried to glance from the corner of his eyes towards the center of the plaza, but couldn't see what he had not looked up to see. Stopping in front of a large wooden door, he greeted the infamous koi fish that had been tormenting Chihiro since her glamorous arrival at the bathhouse.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Haku kept his face blank as he nodded silently. Mentally he spit at the woman and disagreed loudly, but outwardly he was as blank as a fresh slate. Blocking the entryway to the door, Hana motioned over his shoulder towards the center of the plaza indicating he should watch. Turning around slowly, Haku took in the six large fires catching momentum in the plaza. Screams of the victims trapped within the licking flames rang out over the chaos of cheering. Chihiro gasped in horror. Their shouts finally pierced the veil of his memory and reached her.

"Burn all the impure!"

"Kill the humans!"

"Filthy turnbloods will burn!"

Jumping within his skin when Hana lightly touched Haku's shoulders, Chihiro felt herself cringe. "It's such a waste that we had to burn the humans as well. When I ratted them out to the Elders I had hoped that at least one of them wasn't fully bonded to their partners so we could use them for ceremonial sacrifices."

"Yes, it's all quite a shame," Haku mildly replied as his heart clenched within. Guilt washed through him as he saw the bodies burning into the night sky. He loved a human and by their rules, should also be up on that chopping block to die. Yet here he stood, a free spirit with a powerful position, about to pick up a special box of elixirs to boost the effectiveness of the healing waters at the bathhouse from a well-known supplier in the Capital. Hana wrapped her fins suggestively about his waist, making Chihiro gag in disgust.

"You have sacrificed a human or two yourself, no? I hear that the power rush you get from the experience is quite addicting." Haku's mind became distant as if recalling the memories in question, but apparently chose to suppress them from view as he took in the scene before them. His eyes focused in on the charred hands of two victims reaching out of their painful cocoons towards each other and missing contact by a mere inch. Guilt and self-disgust darkened his mood further and he pulled away from her to resume his path inside.

"There are no words to describe the sensation."

Chihiro was grateful when the fog took away the horrid scene and held the next memory for quite some time. The mixture of feelings was near unbearable as her mind put his memories together with his actions. After several long breaths, the fog cleared again but this memory was much faster than the ones before it. Haku was sitting at his desk doing paperwork when the sensation like that of a string being plucked shook him. Glancing upward in surprise, he abandoned his paperwork and transformed into his dragon form as he hurried out of the apartment. There was movement at the portal that required his attention. Flying towards where he had felt the breach in the magic, Haku's heart raced wildly. He could definitely smell a human that had an oddly familiar scent, not that he would get his hopes up, and the scent of a creature that reeked of death. Spotting the human hiding behind a bench, Haku instantly recognized the other as the cause of fear in the air. A Tainted host was stalking towards the human's hiding place with a malicious smirk. Roaring loudly, Haku dived with claws outstretched towards the walking dead. Carefully tearing the Tainted apart limb from limb with ease, Haku had nearly forgotten the human present. The scrape of cloth against stone behind him reminded him that he was not alone. Turning to look at the human, Haku felt his heart seize inside of his chest.

Chihiro had matured into a beautiful young lady in her years away. The muddied black heels and figure-hugging black pencil skirt highlighted the length of her long legs. A hint of cleavage peaked out of her maroon blouse as she tried to catch her breath and the loose folds of the material hinted at an hourglass shaped form beneath. Her brown hair was swept up into a messy bun revealing the pale flesh about her throat, pulsing with life and energy. To any other, she might have looked like a plain Japanese girl, but to Haku there was no creature in the worlds more beautiful than the woman before him. Seeing her there in front of him was like spotting her on the bridge all over again. All the years of trying to forget her and the feelings she inspired in him melted away in an instant. Chihiro could feel the depth of his emotions as he spent the moment trying to compose himself.

The fear in her eyes harshly reminded Haku that she did not remember him. Feeling instantly torn, Haku began to slowly walk towards her as he watched her body language change. Right now he was a blood spattered dragon slinking towards her, of course she would fear him! Wishing he had disposed of the Tainted in a less messy manner, Haku stopped a few feet away from her. Bowing deeply to her, Haku could see her begin to return the bow hesitantly and he quickly transformed while her head was down. Offering a hand towards her hesitantly, he called out her name. Perhaps she did remember him? She hadn't started running when he had approached. Wouldn't that have been the normal human response? The shock that raced through Chihiro at the sound of her name coming from a dragon-shifting man's lips short circuited whatever was left holding onto consciousness and her eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out. Catching her limp body before she could slide off the stone into the tracks below or hit her head on the platform, Haku panicked. Racing towards the bathhouse, he mentally berated himself. Something was obviously wrong with Chihiro, but he didn't know anything about healing humans! After all of these years, he should have thought to read a book or two on the subject just in case.

The fog rapidly began showing quick scenes as the vulnerability of his emotions began to show. He watched her folding laundry with Lin, saw her laughing with the foreman at dinner after work, and even caught a glimpse of her looking out at the sunrise from his balcony. Moments that she didn't even know that he had been around, he was there keeping an eye on her and longing for what they could not have. It settle into a memory of their outing to the maze garden. Chihiro could feel his nervousness and joy as he watched her stop to stare at a dahlia flower. She was so beautiful when she smiled that it was hard to hide the love he felt for her. He wanted to scream it out to the world and hold her close, but there was too much forgotten and too much at stake.

"It's called a dahlia."

"It's quite beautiful." Haku stopped himself short of replying how its beauty could not compare to hers and following it up with a thousand other sappy romantic quips running around his head. Reminding himself that she wouldn't believe him if he said something like that anyways, he decided for a moment of honesty under guise.

"The moon tonight is beautiful, isn't it?" Chihiro looked up at the full moon above them as if to consider his statement in all honesty and smiled.

"Yes, it is." Haku smirked at her quiet response, and realized she had no idea the meaning of the words he just spoke. Perhaps the old Japanese saying was not common amongst the youngest generations of humans. Still his cryptic confession of love was just as casually accepted by her. Chihiro's jaw dropped open as she finally understood what he meant all those nights ago. He had told her he loved her and she had brushed him off in ignorance!

When the fog began clouding her vision, Chihiro complained aloud wanting to see more of his thoughts from that memory. Instead, she got flashes of other memories and the feelings he felt in those moments. The passion he felt when he told her they couldn't be together and the desperation that gnawed away at him inside afterward. He showed her how he was filled with regret when he passed her unconscious body off to his river for her own safety. Haku lingered for just a moment on the day he removed the scales from her hair and how after she had fallen asleep, he had laid an arm's length away from her while she slept. The devotion and adoration he felt for her kept him there most of night before he finally found the strength to leave her side. The image his river had created of her adorned in silks he had woven, pearls he had created and scales he had grown, haunted him. Memories whipped by at a near impossible speed with their scattered emotions surrounding her. They reached a speed that she no longer could distinguish the memory and emotion and she wondered in fright if he had lost control of his magic.

"Haku," Chihiro cried out scared of the whirlwind about her. Dying down instantly, the fog and emotions shakily settled out into one final memory. Haku was seated in his office and had just erected a silence barrier for a private discussion with Hana-sama. Turning his attention to the koi fish, he kept his unease at bay.

"I thought I should let you know that you have a spy for the Tainted within the bathhouse." Haku felt his heart squeeze in fear for the fraction of a second before forcing himself to relax. He knew his staff, and he could think of no one who would betray him or the bathhouse in that manner. "As you know my network of sources reaches from the far reaches of the North to the blistering deserts of the South, I would not lie to you on the matter."

"I will take your words into consideration and investigate myself. Thank you for your concern." Haku meant his words whole heartedly. If there was a leak at the bathhouse he would find it and seal it...permanently.

"My sources told me one other thing…," lowering her eyes she floated way too close for his comfort. Her water gushed about his feet trying to lap him up, but with a flick of his magic he sent it back to her. He had no interest in any water that laid its loyalty to her. Speaking to him as if they were sharing juicy gossip that was almost too incredulous to believe, she lowered her voice before speaking. "They said you were in love with a human and that you were hiding her here in the bathhouse. Isn't that the most ridiculous thing?"

The panic and fear that seized Haku in that moment left Chihiro stricken. Images of the humans burning and Hana's enjoyment in their deaths ran through their collective mind. The situation had always been more complicated than Haku had led on, and now it was apparent how carefully he had been trying to protect her from it all. Composing himself quickly, he outwardly seemed unmoved by the news. Smiling at her coyly, Haku made a decision that he knew he was going to regret. There was only one thing that Hana wanted more than purity and recognition… and that was him. As arguably the most influential spirit in the Eastern wetlands, Haku knew that she, like many of the other women that sought him out, was looking to trap him into marriage for the power she would gain by it. If giving himself over temporarily to her would provide enough of a distraction to protect Chihiro then he would do it.

"Do you really believe that I would be interested in a human," Haku brought the slimy fin to his lips and touched his lips upon it, "when I could be with a spirit like you?"

"I didn't think so either and rumors can often be wrong. Besides where would you hide such a fragile creature," Hana laughed awkwardly, but the gears were still turning in her head as she spoke aloud, "but then again, you did protect that ugly weasel spirit this morning. We both know she did not deserve the honor you bestowed upon her."

"And did I not correct that mistake by giving you the dance? You will be exactly what we need on Sunday." The slight pout on her lips told him she wasn't completely sold on his act. He needed her to believe him in order for this to work. Setting his disgust aside, Haku resorted to his last ditch solution. "Then let me erase any doubts you may have about my intentions."

Haku realized his mistake as soon as he heard papers hitting the ground across the room. The accompanying gasp and crash of a tea cup shattering on the ground only solidified his horror. From the corner of Haku's eyes he could see the foreman's dropped jaw from behind the silence barrier. This would undoubtedly be all over the bathhouse by morning. Chihiro had walked in on him kissing Hana, the same spirit he had just given her dance away to. The spike of anger and confusion in the air insulted his nose. Apologies were not going to cover this. She wouldn't understand, not after she so openly offered her heart to him.

"What the hell is she doing in here?"

"There's no need to be so worked up Hana. Chihiro was just organizing the evening reports from each department on the dining room table as I had instructed her. I didn't think she would finish up this quickly. Chihiro-san, you are dismissed. Lin should be waiting for you back in her room." Haku instantly regretted his choice in words, but it was necessary to get her out of there. Hana could not know that she was living up here with him.

"I apologize for the interruption, Master Haku," Chihiro grated out and with a half-assed bow, "I forgot one last thing and I will be out of your hair for the evening." Haku blatantly ignored her as he tried to soothe Hana-sama. Fearing Hana's retaliation or worse that she would figure out Chihiro's species, Haku began laying affection on the koi spirit thickly. Cooing sweet nothings into Hana's ear hole in hopes of being believable, Haku stealthily tracked Chihiro as she left her bedroom and made her way towards the exit.

"I just can't stand her," Hana said loudly as Chihiro moved steadily towards the silence barrier and the exit, "both her and her sister should be sleeping down in the soot where they belong. I hear their homeland has been constantly burning since the famine started."

"So it has," Haku remarked as he watched his girl slip through the barrier with ease from his position over Hana's head. The foreman seemed to say something to her that made her stop and stare at him. Whatever she said in response brought a frown to his lips and she walked out the door without looking back. The sound of the wounded bell cried out in her wake and Haku knew that there wouldn't be time to catch her or finish his meeting with the foreman. "Unfortunately, it seems we have wounded arriving and I am needed downstairs. We will have to continue this another time when we don't have as many interruptions."

Nodding her head as if she were demure, Hana retracted her fins and let her eyes eat him over as he took down the silence barrier. Hurrying to instruct the foreman on the last of his reports, Haku watched Hana float silently away. He felt as if the world was crumbling down around him.

Chihiro left her eyes closed as the fog melted away and she became separated again from his memories. She could still feel his forehead against hers, though he was sweating significantly and his breaths were coming in forced long breaths. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw him for the first time as the man that he was. Glancing down to his slightly parted lips, Chihiro frowned at the myriad of emotions running through her head. Shakily getting to her feet, she took a deep breath of the sun warmed air. She ran a hand through her hair as she walked a few steps away. Keeping her back to him, Chihiro looked up at the blue sky above them with its puffy white clouds. Haku slowly opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. Even now when she was about to walk away from him a second time, he couldn't help but be drawn in by her. Loving her was as easy as breathing, and denying it was like walking through fire. If these were going to be their last moments together then he would watch her walk away and cherish these last moments that he had with her. At least she had given him the opportunity to show her how he really felt and why he was doing the things that had been done. Letting out the breath she was unconsciously holding, Chihiro glanced at the ruins of the train station before turning to face the bathhouse.

"I will not sign a contract with you, Haku. Are we clear?" Haku sat up as he felt himself begin to hope. Could she possibly forgive him? There was still so much left unsaid between them. Would now be the time to bring up the rest? Deciding that spilling the rest of his secrets when she was on the precipice of leaving wouldn't help him in the situation, he kept his mouth shut.

"Clear as crystal."

"Then I'm going to go fix myself a drink with the bottle of whiskey sitting in your office and head to bed," Chihiro stated calmly as she looked over her shoulder at him, "I'd suggest you do the same."

Taking even steps across the grass, Chihiro began walking back in the direction of the bathhouse.