Chihiro's eyes went wide and her heart literally skipped a beat.
"Haku...what?"
"Not right away. After you become a spirit." he said quickly.
Chihiro let out her breath. She was starting to sway and her head was spinning. Darkness tinted the edges of her vision and for a second she thought that it was Soren attacking her again. Haku caught her just before she hit the floor. Chuckling a bit he tucked her into her sleeping bag. He dragged his back towards hers and climbed in. He reached out and took the unconscious girl in his arms, sleeping bag and all. Stroking her hair gently he slowly drifted off to sleep.
Chihiro woke up the following morning with a killer headache. She tried to move only to find that someone had her in their arms. Panicking she thought the worse, until she opened her eyes and saw Haku sleeping next to her. She saw his arm around her and smiled a bit to herself. Did last night really happen? Did she tell Haku that she loved him? Did he ask her to marry him? Her head started spinning again and she let out a groan. Haku's eyes snapped open and he became instantly alert. As soon as he released her, Chihiro inched further down into the bag, she wasn't ready to face him yet. Luckily Haku was a gentleman so he just gathered more wood and made a fire and got breakfast ready. Smelling bacon and eggs, Chihiro emerged from the dark confines of her makeshift bed. She sniffed the air and smiled, her hair was all over the place and her clothes were crumpled. She looked around and didn't see Haku. She meant to snatch some bacon and go back into hiding when his voice drifted from behind her.
"Morning sleepy head." he said with a smile.
Chihiro suppressed a groan and plastered on a fake smile, "Morning."
Haku knew she wanted to forget the night before, so he didn't mention it...yet. After they both finished their breakfast and Haku went to the river to wash up and give Chihiro time to change, he helped her put everything away. She was waiting for him to lift the pack onto her shoulders, but instead she felt arms around her waist.
"You never answered me." he whispered into her ear.
"You weren't serious."
"Of course I was. After this is behind us, I want to marry you."
"But...why?"
"So no one can take you from me." his voice went even lower and Chihiro felt herself shiver, but not from the cold.
"Do you love me?" she had to ask.
"There are three words to express love. I believe Humans call the language Hebrew. Raya, Ahava, and Dod. Raya is like, being someone's best friend, you can tell them anything. Ahava means, 'I give', like husband and wife." he paused.
"What's the other one?" Chihiro was curious now.
"Dod is the physical stuff."
Chihiro nodded. Haku released her and stood in front of her.
"You are my best friend. I don't have to give you my heart, you already have it."
"Raya and Ahava." Chihiro mumbled.
"As for Dod..." he cleared his throat, "Since you've been here it's taken everything in me to stop from kissing you."
Chihiro felt her cheeks turn red. Was he telling her that just to get her to fall for him. It seemed like a line a guy would feed a girl. But Haku isn't just any guy...does he really have a physical attraction to me?
"So your feelings for me are physical."
"You're twisting my words up. Chihiro, love is...such an overused word. One can love a person, a dog, and someone's pair of shoes at the same time, I don't just love you. I..." he put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes, "I...I want to kiss you." he admitted.
"I won't stop you." she whispered.
Taking her face into his hands Haku leaned down slowly, to give her time to change her mind. Just as their lips were going to touch, a wall of water shot up between them. Chihiro was pushed back by an invisible force and a familiar voice was drifting in the air.
"He's MINE!"
Soren's attack was painful. Chihiro saw stars and her jaw hurt. Then pain in her stomach. She felt herself get lifted up and carried off, the last thing she heard was Haku calling for her. The last thing she saw was him being mauled by Soren's older brother.