After almost a whole day of flying, Haku landed so that Chihiro could eat. Haku and No-Face barely took a little food, Chihiro would need it more. They flew all night and into the next morning when they met up with three Spirits.
Mangetsu, Miyaki, and Soren were looking for Haku and Chihiro. They had stopped at the bathhouse and found nothing, Soren was drilling them to look for the two, until they were visited by a strange sprite. The Sprite informed them that they were to aid Life and Death to test three travelers. The Sprite gave them the direction of where to meet them and left it at that. Knowing that they couldn't refuse, they put their plans on hold to do this mission. They were pleasantly surprised when it was Chihiro and Haku, and someone else.
Mangetsu flew to attack No-Face. Soren distracted Haku, and Miyaki went for Chihiro.
Mangetsu couldn't explain how he knew how to handle No-Face. He kept taunting the demon and pushed his buttons. Telling him how no one could ever be his true friend, and how the girl only wanted him around so she could be with her dragon. No-Face was getting angry and just wanted to swallow him to shut him up. He fought the urge and retreated, something that was hard for him to do. He kept making his "Ah" noises to drown out the Ocean Spirit's voice. Finally after what seemed an eternity. Mangetsu backed off, "You have passed the test."
Miyaki was actually to tempt Haku. She was in her human form and was floating around dangling a screaming Chihiro a mile from the ground. She laughed at Haku's anger as Soren kept him back.
"Come save you're little human. What would you do if I...let go"
She let go of Chihiro's hand and the human plummeted to the ground, Haku winced when he saw her hot the floor and couldn't take seeing her lying broken. In reality it was all an illusion, and Chihiro was safe with No-Face on the floor. Haku felt his anger get to a point where he could no longer control it. He shoved Soren aside and shot at Miyaki.
Miyaki, realizing that he was about to try to kill her, dodged him cleanly. Haku kept flying at her trying to get a grip on her. His anger was out of control, although somewhere deep inside him, he just felt sadness.
Haku stop she wouldn't want you to do this. The thought entered his head. Chihiro wouldn't want him to be a killer. He stopped and the illusion was shattered. Chihiro was looking up at him, her body wasn't broken on the ground! She was fine!
"You passed the test" Miyaki told him and flew off.
Soren floated over to Haku, she touched his dragon form and he changed back to human form. His eyes were full of lust and he seemed to gladly accept the kiss that was given to him by the Ocean Spirit. Chihiro's own anger spiked and she glared at Haku when the two landed. She didn't know that it was another illusion, and that Haku was still in the air.
"How could you!" She shouted at the fake Haku, who was still locked in a passionate kiss with Soren.
Chihiro wrenched him away and turned him to face her, "You lied to me! You told me that you were never kissed. You sure have enough practice!" she yelled at him.
'Haku' gave her a smug look, "What can I say, I know what to say to get what I want." he said and turned back to Soren.
Hurt and confused she shook her head, "I...I hate you" she spit the words out.
Up in the air Haku heard the words and he felt himself break. Even though she wasn't talking to him, she was still talking about him. He fell out of the sky, slowly, and landed on the grass, the illusion still held.
Chihiro, who was crying now and walking away from 'Haku' ran into Mangetsu.
"Get him back." He was telling her, "Kiss someone else, get him back."
Chihiro looked at the Spirit and was about to lean up to touch her lips to his when a memory entered her mind.
Chihiro looked out at the horizon, "I've never been kissed" she admitted.
"What? But you have a fiance!" Lin's eyes got huge.
"I lied about that. I don't know why, but I never let Nagiori kiss me. I never let anyone kiss me. Even though we were dating, I told him I wanted to wait until our wedding day. In reality I just hoped that one day Haku would come back for me."
Chihiro had a far away look in her eye, "I would dream about returning here, and seeing him again. In my dream I always ran from the gate right to his arms and we shared a kiss. I never imagined that he would pull me here during a storm and he would have a crazy girl wanting him. I have to turn into a spirit Lin." she said suddenly, "I'm not letting her have him."
"I'm not letting her have him." she whispered.
"Huh?" Mangetsu looked at the human.
"I can't kiss anyone. My first kiss belongs to someone else." she turned away from the Spirit.
"You passed the test" Came Soren's voice as the illusion disappeared, "Unfortunately, you can move on, but get this straight Human, I already have him."
Soren and her minions flew off. Chihiro looked for Haku and found him on the ground.
"Haku are you ok?" she asked, running towards him.
The dragon's chest was hurting. He felt like it was being split in two, "Don't hate me" he whispered when he felt Chihiro near him.
The human knelt down and put his head in her lap, "I can't hate you Haku." she whispered.
"Good." he told her, "Can we camp here for a while, I don't think I can get up."
"That's fine" Chihiro told him, trying to take control of her tears.
The reality of it was setting in. Even though she knew now that it was a test, she couldn't handle what she saw. Her own heart was hurting. Haku had fallen asleep. As Chihiro looked down at his sleeping form she whispered in a voice so soft that she wasn't sure if he could hear her in his sleep, "I love you Haku."
Haku did hear her, he was slipping into unconsciousness and thought he just heard the words in his sleep. His chest stopped hurting and he was able to relax and dream about her as he did every night for eight years.
The next morning, Haku woke up to find that he had pressure on his chest. He moved a bit, to try to get away from it, and heard a sleepy moan coming from the source of the pressure. He reached over with his left hand and felt Chihiro's head, which was pillowed on his chest. He smiled and inhaled deeply. Chihiro made an annoyed noise and sat up to look at him. Haku laughed at her expression and her hair.
"Good morning sleepy head, ready for breakfast then we can take off?" He asked her.
She ran her hand through her tangled hair and yawned, "What's for breakfast?" she asked as she pulled her hair back into a half ponytail and secured it with her hair tie that had been made by her friends.
"Whatever you want. I'll make it" he told her.
"No you rest, just tell me what you want so I can make it." she insisted and started to stand.
Haku took her hand to stop her, "Let me cook for you Chihiro" he said and smiled at her.
Chihiro blushed and sat back down. "Um...alright...I want bacon, eggs, bread, and tea" she told him.
Haku stood up and started a fire. When it was hot enough he pulled out the food from the bag Zeniba gave him. Chihiro was shocked the first time she looked in there to find that there was nothing in the bag, until Zeniba told her to imagine what she wanted and reach in.
"Mmm that was good." Chihiro said and smiled at Haku, "Who knew you could cook."
Haku was already cleaning up and putting stuff away. He was getting worried. The first test was easy to No-Face, but for himself and Chihiro, they almost did something that they would have regretted. Pushing the thought from his mind, he turned into a dragon and waited until Chihiro was secure on his back. Nodding at No-Face the two took to the skies and the Trio pressed on.