For as long as she lived, the day that Haku told her how he felt about her was the best and worse day of her existence. On one hand, Haku told her that he loved for her, that he wanted to give her himself, and that he wanted her. On the other hand, it was the last time she saw Haku for six years.
When Soren carried her off, Chihiro passed out. She was unaware of anything until she landed hard in a cage. Soren closed up the door and sneered at the human.
"Haku..." Chihiro said weakly.
"Haku is dealing with my brother now. I gave you a chance Chihiro. I gave you many warnings. You should have just gone back where you came from and left us alone! But no. You wanted to be a spirit and COMPLETELY RUIN MY PLAN!" Soren's beautiful face became contorted in anger and hatred.
Her features turned almost slimy and the illusion made Chihiro feel sick to her stomach. Soren realized that she let herself get out of control and regained composure.
"You should have left when you had the time. But now that Haku knows you love him, and he loves you...well now he gets another option. An option that he cannot take." her eyes turned dangerous. "If I can't have him no one will." she laughed evilly and walked away leaving Chihiro alone.
Chihiro curled up into a ball. She felt ten again, just like when Haku snapped at her, then later that night when Lin told her that there was only one Haku. She felt her stomach hurt and all she wanted to do was curl up and cry. No. She told herself. I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry. But she did cry. She couldn't hold back the sobs. She curled herself into a tighter ball and imagined what they were doing to him. What they would do to her.
Haku was hurt. He was actually in the same room as Chihiro, but an illusion put in place by Soren kept her from seeing him. Haku, on the other hand, could see her perfectly. He could see her crying and noted that she kept saying his name. He saw when Soren, who had finally had enough, went and pulled a spell on the girl to keep her from talking. Anger flashed through him and he found himself thrashing around to break his confinements. He was stuck in his dragon form, so he couldn't call out to her.
"Just wait until I get out of here Soren. I'll get rid of you and your brother."
"He wasn't supposed to hurt you this badly baby. He seems to want your little human for himself. I told him she wasn't worth it. I mean she smells horrible and she is the ugliest thing ever. But he claims there is something about her."
Haku growled at the thought, "Soren let her go and I'll give you what you want"
"You expect me to believe that?" Soren asked him with a laugh.
"If I don't, you can kill me. Just let me talk to her."
Soren nodded and waved her hand, the illusion fell and Chihiro's eyes went wide. "Haku!" she called to him.
Haku was able to turn to his human form. He winced when he heard the eagerness in her voice. He knew he was going to have to hurt her. Soren let her out of the cage. She automatically ran straight for Haku and threw her arms around him.
"You're ok! You're ok." she kept saying as she touched his face and clothes as if to assure herself that he was fine.
"Chihiro stop" he said when he found himself leaning closer to her as she stroked his bruised face.
Chihiro frowned at his harsh tone. He had only used it once before, when he was pretending not to know her when she first met Yubaba. Hurt flashed in her eyes as she looked at his steely eyes.
"Haku?" her voice was full of hurt and confusion.
Haku's face was a mask. He tried hard not to break, not to look at her with sadness. It was hard to keep his face cold.
"What's going on?" Chihiro asked, her heart seemed to wedge itself in her throat and her stomach dropped to the feet.
Something wasn't right and she knew it.
"You have to go back Chihiro." Haku's voice was cold.
"Back where? Haku what's going on?"
"Back to the human world." he almost choked on the words, it killed him to say them.
"Why? Haku I don't belong there."
"You don't belong here" he told her.
"Yes I do. I belong here. With you" tears were coming to her eyes.
"I don't want you here" he barely got the words out.
She frowned and the tears spilled over, "Then why..."
She didn't bother to finish, she just turned and ran. She didn't want to let him see her break down. When she got outside she ran for about 100 feet then tripped and fell. She barely registered the pain as her arm snapped from her weight on it. Her heart hurt more. He was playing her. This whole time he was playing with her emotions and dangling her from a string. No, not Haku, he's not like that. Came her voice of reason. He doesn't want me...he doesn't want me...he doesn't want me. She cried softly and curled herself into a ball.
Haku started to run after her when Soren appeared in front of him. "It's over baby, why are you going after her?"
Haku shoved passed her, "Because she needs to learn how to get back to the bathhouse so she can return to the human world."
"Why do you care?"
Haku rounded on her, "I said I would marry you, but I will never love you and I will never stop loving her." he said and stormed out.
Haku found Chihiro curled up. He saw that her arm was twisted the wrong way. He tried to get her to stand up, but she wouldn't. He leaned down and whispered something and her arm healed itself. Haku kept standing there until Chihiro stopped crying. She looked up.
"Here to break my heart more Haku?" she said with a cold voice.
Haku frowned, he knew she was hurt but he hated the coldness in her voice. It wasn't his Chihiro. He hurt her...again.
"Chihiro it's for your own good."
"The hell it is Haku. My own good is being here. With you. I thought I was going crazy. I thought it was just a weird dream. I got made fun of for talking about you and the spirit world. I lost all my friends. My own good is not going back to that. I was depressed Haku." somehow she kept her voice steady, even though she was shaking.
"Chihiro -"
"Save it Haku. You claimed to feel all that for me, yet you are sending me back. Did you lie to me?"
He didn't answer.
"Answer me...Answer ME!" she stood up and shoved him. "I deserve to know. Did. You. Lie. To. Me?"
The look on her face, the anger, the pain, he broke. His mask crumbled and his true emotions broke through. Tears fell down his face. Chihiro looked at him and cried with him.
"'Don't leave me' you said. You said your worst fear was me leaving, now you're sending me away." she turned away from him.
"I'm doing this for you. She'll kill you Chihiro"
Chihiro just shook her head, "Do you love me?"
Haku sighed.
"Do you love me?" she asked again, "Or was that 'three stages of love' just something you said to get me to fall for you even harder than I already was?"
Haku didn't answer her. Instead he took her face in his hands. She stopped breathing. He leaned forward and stopped just an inch away from her face. She still held her breath. He waited for her to make a confirmation that it was ok. Chihiro tilted her face upwards and nodded. Haku touched his lips to hers. It was indescribable. Her world narrowed, it was only them. His world seemed to stop. She was his world. She was what was holding him to the ground. Only her.
His kiss was all she could think about. His touch was front of her mind. His taste was all she needed. When he broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers, they were both breathing hard.
"I love you Chihiro." he whispered.
"Then why are you rejecting me?" she whispered back.
"I would never reject you. But I need you safe. This is the only way I can think to keep you safe." his voice sounded like he was in agony, his face showed the pain. "Being away from you, I can handle. You dying, I can't."
"I can't handle you being with her Haku...I really can't. Knowing that she'll have everything that I want...it kills me." she confessed, "I can't let her steal my world. I swore to be a spirit so I could be with you." she was crying now.
Haku shook her head, "She'll have me by marriage. I'll never feel for her the way I feel for you." he whispered.
Soren grew impatient. She walked out and saw them still talking. Her anger spiked. Haku could sense it so he gave Chihiro an amulet.
"This has magic in it." he told her, and, just like he did eight years before, he put his hand on her forehead and gave her instructions, "You need to think of what you want, summoning Zeniba. She'll get you back to the bathhouse where Yubaba can get you back through the gate. Go now. And remember Chihiro, I love you." he said then walked away from her and back to Soren.