Author's note:

Sorry for the late update, I've been busy and school's here in a week so yeah, I've been busy. Also, I had trouble writing this chapter, maybe because I'm always in the living room while the tv is on when writing it, lol. But seriously, I had a hard time deciding on how to execute it because it must be perfect *^*

There's these two characters that will appear later in the chapter. "二天" this means second heaven. "Er tian" in Chinese, dunno what it is in Japanese, woops. In the movie, it was implied that Yubaba's floor was "天", which means heaven so I made Haku's floor right below hers, thus making it the second heaven. 天 also means sky or day, so I guess it could be translated to "second to the sky/heaven"

Hope you enjoy that little lesson and now march forth through the rest of the chapter!

In the suite reserved for Kimiko sat Hiro. He was seated on the floor as his mind drew a blank. After conversing with little Ryuu, his head began to ache and when the little boy asked him why, Hiro just told him to go play with his sister. So here was Hiro, sitting on the floor, doing his best to not think but instead, to just focus on Ryuu who was busy playing with Emiko's tiny hands. The little human boy had a big smile stretching his face, showing little dimples that Hiro thought was cute. Even though he heard such sad news, I'm surprised that he recovered so quickly, Hiro thought to himself as his brown eyes wandered to Emiko. The baby girl had soft black hair, unlike her brother's, and a chubby face. Hiro guessed that she was at least four months, five months, from the way she was able to roll on her tummy and lift her head up. Emiko's eyes were just like Ryuu's, warm and brown, but she didn't have dimples like him.

Hiro laughed softly under his breath as Emiko painfully tugged Ryuu's hair, attracting his attention. The boy tilted his head and gave him a toothy grin. He's missing a couple teeth, Hiro realized just as the Ryuu asked, "What are you thinking, Hiro-nii?"

The older boy bit his lip and fiddled with his fingers, wondering if he should ask. After Ryuu persistently repeated the question, Hiro finally told him. "Ryuu, do you remember anything before coming here?" Ryuu immediately frowned and glared at the floor.

"I do."

"Is it okay if you tell me?"

Ryuu looked up at Hiro and stared at him for a few seconds before answering. "Mama and papa left. So we had to live with my mean uncle."

"Where did your parents go?" Hiro asked, raising his brows at this. Ryuu whispered something but it was barely audible. "What was that?" The boy whispered it again but again, Hiro couldn't hear. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear."

"Chihiro-nee told me that mama and papa went to live in the sky. She said they couldn't bring us because we were too little," Ryuu said with a small hiccup. Great, I made him cry again, Hiro thought as he mentally slapped himself for not considering the boy's feelings. But Ryuu didn't stop there. He kept talking. "After mama and papa left, my uncle lived with us. He was really mean. He kept hurting us. He wouldn't give us a lot of food, but nee-chan gave me hers. One night, when I was sleeping, I heard nee-chan telling me to wake up. Nee-chan was crying but she was smiling at the same time. Nee-chan cut her hair, or maybe my mean uncle did. Nee-chan told us that she was gonna bring us to a new home. She told me we were gonna find Haku. And then we went to the forest but I can't remember anything after I fell asleep on Nee-chan's lap." Tears streamed out of Ryuu's eyes as he hugged Emiko tightly while the baby protested with small cries of annoyance. "Nee-chan told me she wouldn't leave us but she did. She went to the sky to be with mama and papa. I want my nee-chan back, Hiro-nii. I really do."

Hiro pressed his lips together as he pulled Ryuu on to his lap and patted his hair. "I understand, Ryuu. It's okay. Just remember that your nee-chan loved you, okay?" Hiro murmured in a soothing voice as Ryuu hiccupped. They stayed like that for several moments before someone cleared their throat. Hiro looked up and gasped when he saw Haku standing by the door of the bedroom. "K-Kohaku-sama. I didn't see you there," Hiro stammered as he gathered Ryuu into his arms so he could stand up and bow politely. Haku raised a hand to stop his movements.

"It's alright, don't get up." Haku sighed deeply and then set his green eyes on Ryuu. His gaze stayed there for a while before he closed his eyes. "Ryuu, I'm sorry that I didn't come and save you and your sister in the human world. If I had known what was happening to Chihiro, I would have used all means to get through that tunnel."

Ryuu raised his head to look at Haku, his brown eyes still bright with tears. "Onii-chan, are you Haku?"

"...yes."

"You're just like what Chihiro-nee said. You can be very scary." This made Haku and Hiro become silent. Hiro had to admit, Haku was frightening when he found out that Kimiko was connected to Chihiro. He was absolutely terrifying. But his actions were justified; after all, Haku cared for Chihiro. At least, that's what it appeared to Hiro.

"I apologize if I scared you earlier," Haku managed to say. Ryuu stared at him again before clambering out of Hiro's arms and lifting Emiko above his tiny head so she was up to Haku's torso.

"Me and Emi-chan always wanted to meet Haku, though. Because nee-chan said Haku can be very nice, too. So, hi, Haku," Ryuu said, his thin arms beginning to tremble from the effort of lifting Emiko above his head. Reluctantly, Haku took Emiko into his arms and he gazed into the baby's warm brown eyes. Just like Chihiro's, he thought as the baby reached for his hair. "Hey, onii-chan, Emi-chan likes you," Ryuu said with a grin, his tears already forgotten. The happy expression on the little boy's face made the corner of Haku's mouth twitch upwards in a tiny smile. And this one has her smile, Haku thought as he secured Emiko in his arms.

The baby softly tugged his hair and Haku decided that just for this moment, he would put off his anger. He could deal with Yubaba later. For now, he had to take care of these little ones. "You must be hungry," Haku said and Ryuu nodded his head before wiping his nose with his arm. Haku narrowed his eyes at this as he noticed how filthy the little boy was. "Let's give you a bath first. How does that sound?"

"It sounds real nice, onii-chan," Ryuu grinned again.

"How about you, Hiro? Are you coming along?" Haku asked when he noticed that Hiro still remained on the floor.

"Ah, yes, of course," Hiro said, scrambling up to his feet.

Haku led them down the hall past several rooms, the place relatively quiet. Most of the guests of the bathhouse were downstairs eating their breakfast or still asleep. Hiro's feet made a shuffling sound as he walked with a slight limp; he had forgotten that he injured his foot the other day due to all of the commotion Kimiko and Haku caused. Ryuu padded along beside him, his bare feet barely making a sound. Haku took note of this as he walked ahead of the two, still carrying Emiko in his arms. The baby girl was draped over his shoulder and entertained herself by chewing on his robes. He'll need to change before going back down to his family to save himself the trouble of explaining the drool on his clothes.

Hiro leaned forward a bit to glance at Haku who was deep in thought. "Uhm, Kohaku-sama, where are we going to?"

"My room. You'll take your bath and eat your breakfast there," Haku answered as they reached the elevator.

"If it's okay for me to ask, can't we just stay at oujo-sama's room?" Hiro said nervously. Kimiko had mentioned before that if anyone found out that he and the kids were human, then they would be killed. He didn't want to risk that by leaving Kimiko's room.

Hmm, that was a good question, Haku thought to himself. He didn't know why he was bringing them to his floor, he only did so on an impulse. Even so, he managed to explain his own actions to himself. "Someone might wonder why I'm bringing food to Kimiko's room even though she's downstairs dining with my family. Also, I thought it good if you were able to walk around and see part of the bathhouse. As long as you're with me, you should be able to leave the room now and then."

"If you say so," Hiro said, still not comfortable with the idea of leaving Kimiko's room unnecessarily. Then he thought to himself that if he's with Haku, surely the river spirit would protect him. Haku didn't seem to be the type to put people into danger purposely, unlike Hiro's new master, Kimiko, who had tricked him all along. She even put a spell on me to believe that Ryuu and Emiko were with me serving the Spirit of the North, Hiro said. But still, she indeed had save the two children's lives as well as rescue him from harsh servitude.

The wooden elevator rumbled before sliding open. Ryuu hopped on the elevator in excitement and pointed at the wooden lever jutting out from the wall. "Hey, onii-chan, what's that?" the boy asked.

"You pull that to move the elevator but first, you have to press the buttons for which floor you'd like to go to," Haku explained and Ryuu's face lit up in awe. It appears that it was his first time on an elevator. "Would you like to do the honors?" The boy nodded his head quickly, making a chuckle escape from Haku's lips. "Press this one, the one with the "二天" on it."

Ryuu squinted at the buttons, furrowing his brows together in concentration to figure out which button to press. He let his finger hover over the button "二" on it. "2nd floor?" Ryuu asked and Haku shook his head.

"The one with heaven on it. Second heaven. See, this one," Haku pointed at the correct button and Ryuu slammed his palm on to it with a huge grin. "Good job," Haku said when the boy turned to see if he had done his job right, "now, pull the wooden lever." The grin on Ryuu's face grew even bigger as he jumped up to reach the tip of the lever and yanked it down. The elevator doors closed and the elevator began surging upwards.

"Onii-chan, I did it! Hiro-nii, did you see that, I pulled the lever!" Ryuu said with an excited job. Hiro smiled weakly at him.

"I saw."

It didn't take long before the elevator opened again and they were on Haku's floor. "Here we are. We'll be using the spare bath in the other room," Haku said as he led them to the nearest door. He slid the door open to reveal that the room had been altered so it was just a bathroom. A large, rectangular tub took up one end of the room while the wall was covered with cabinets and lined with benches. Many towels and robes filled the cabinets and there were many buckets and scrubs as well as soaps, herbs, potions. "I created this room right after I escorted Ichirou so you three have a place to hide if ever needed. That door over there leads to the bedroom which has a kotatsu where you can also eat. Should you ever have to leave Kimiko's room due to unforeseen circumstances, this room will be your refuge until I find another safe place for you three."

"Wouldn't anyone be able to walk in here and find us, though?" Hiro said while Haku handed Emiko to him who tried to resist by clutching on to Haku's sleeve.

"I placed a spell on the door to the bedroom so that no one would be able to detect it but me. To anyone else, this room is just one large private bath for me," Haku explained as he walked over to the wall. He knocked on the panel three times and clipped a red tag on a string. He tugged at it and watched it disappear into the darkness just as a wooden pipe came out of the ceiling with a rope attached to it. Haku yanked on the rope and water began rushing forth to fill up the big tub. A soothing aroma filled the room and Hiro started to feel more relaxed.

"Thank you for preparing all of this, Kohaku-sama," Hiro said with a deep bow.

Haku made a strained smile. "This is nothing compared to what I could have done for Chihiro. Yubaba even warned me about it back then," he murmured quietly and the comment confused Hiro.

"What do you mean by that?" Hiro asked.

"No, forget you heard me say that," Haku said, avoiding the question. He yanked at the rope again and the water immediately stopped pouring into the tub. The wooden pipe slowly rose back into its place in the ceiling. Ryuu stared at the ceiling, expecting the wooden pipe to come out again at any moment. "Ryuu, come over here, let's get you cleaned."

"Okay, onii-chan!" Ryuu said, wriggling his way out of his frayed t-shirt and kicking off his dirty shorts. Haku rolled up his sleeves as the boy walked over to him just as a knock came at the door of the bath.

"Lin, is that you?" Haku called out while he sorted through some of the bottles in the cabinets.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm comin' in there," Lin said in her loud voice as she walked into the room carrying a two trays of food. "You know, Haku, a person who just got recovered from sickness shouldn't eat all this food. It's gonna make you fat. And woah, when did this room become like this?" Lin said as she finally noticed the changes in the room.

"I made it like this earlier after I escorted Ichirou to lord Ryujin."

"You know, Haku, why don't you use your magic on something more useful, like, I don't know, bringing Chihiro here," Lin joked, not noticing the way Haku stiffened. "Where do I put the food- oh, hey, you're that dopey looking servant that came with the dragon princess," she said as she just realized that there were others in the room.

"I'm Hiro Shun, nice to meet you," Hiro said, making a quick bow.

"The name's Lin. Now I see why Haku asked for two sets of food," Lin said, still carrying the trays.

"Hiro, take the food and put it in the bedroom," Haku ordered and the human boy complied, and he quickly handed Emiko to Ryuu so he could take the trays to the other room.. "Lin, help me give these two a bath."

"Kids? Where did these two come from?" Lin frowned as she leaned forward to stare Ryuu in the eye. The little boy gazed at her evenly for a few seconds and Lin narrowed her brows. "This kid reminds me of someone. What's your name kid?"

"I'm Ryuu. This is Emi-chan, my baby sister," Ryuu said proudly and he held Emiko up for Lin to see.

"Ryuu? That sounds like Chihiro's bro-" Lin whirled around, her mouth agape. "Haku? Are you telling me this kid is-?" Haku gave her a passive look as he nodded in reply. The weasel spirit looked around the room, expecting Chihiro to pop out of nowhere to surprise her. "So Chihiro's here, too? She must be, if her brother is here. Huh, what's with that look, Haku?"

"She's not here, Lin," Haku said stiffly. "I'd rather not speak about her right now." Noticing how the atmosphere became cold, Lin stopped asking about Chihiro. She knew that Haku would tell her on his time anyways.

"Alright," Lin said and she rolled up her sleeves. "You wanted me to give these two a bath, right? Come here, twerp." She threw her arms around the half naked Ryuu and he laughed out loud, trying to wriggle away while she tickled his side.

"W-wait, Lin nee-chan, I might drop Emi-chan," Ryuu laughed as he tried to keep a good hold of Emiko.

"Gross, don't call me nee-chan, just call me Lin." The weasel spirit wrinkled her nose before she decided to drop Ryuu into the large tub with a loud splash. Luckily, Haku grabbed Emiko from Ryuu's arms before she got into the tub with him.

"Lin, be careful. Emiko's only a baby," Haku scolded as Emiko grabbed a fistful of his hair. Cradling Emiko in one arm, he took out a smaller tub and placed it on the floor. By this time, Hiro had returned from the other room so Haku told the boy to use a bucket to fill the smaller tub with water from the large tub. "Okay, Hiro. I'll hold Emiko while you pour some of the warm water."

"Wait, onii-chan! Nee-chan only uses a wet cloth to clean Emi- glurrbb." Ryuu's voice became a gargle as Lin nonchalantly poured a bucket of water on his head.

Haku narrowed his eyes at her. "Lin, was that necessary?"

"I thought it was funny," she laughed right before Haku threw a towel at her head. "Alright, alright, I'll stop messing around, geez."

"Thank you," Haku said as Hiro handed him a cloth to use. "Hiro, I'll take care of Emiko. Just go bathe yourself now. Lin will help you."

Hiro widened his eyes and his face became tinged with pink. "Uhm, actually...I would rather wait for everyone to finish using the bath first."

"Why?"

"I don't feel comfortable undressing myself in front of others," Hiro muttered quietly as he stared at the floor in embarrassment.

"I understand your discomfort but we have to make sure you're bathed properly as well as treated properly. You have injuries from the time you worked for the Spirit of the North, correct?" Haku said as he looked up at Hiro who quietly twiddled his fingers. The blush on his face made him seem girly and for a moment, Haku thought that he looked like Chihiro.

"Hey, Hiro-nii," Ryuu said as he leaned over from the edge of the tub while Lin carefully used a scrub to get rid of the dirt caked on his body. "You really look like my nee-chan right now."

"D-don't say that, it's embarrassing being told that I look like a girl," Hiro stammered.

Haku narrowed his eyes and carefully laid Emiko on a cushion on the floor before rising to his feet. He began walking towards Hiro who nervously took a step back with each step. "Hiro, please don't be stubborn and take off your clothes," the river spirit said and Hiro gripped his robes tightly.

"I really do feel uncomfortable about this, Kohaku-sama."

"Actually, I agree with Haku on this one, Hiro. Ryuu over here is covered in scratches and wounds that need to be cleaned so I'm assuming you'd need to be checked, too," Lin said as she glanced over her shoulder to look at the boy.

Hiro shook his head and took another step backwards while Haku loomed over him. He was backed into the wall now and he looked anywhere except into the river spirit's green eyes. The human boy had no idea why Haku was being insisted on this and it made him feel frantic. Meanwhile in Haku's mind, a little nagging voice kept whispering things to him. The resemblance between Hiro and Chihiro is too much. Even the sound of their names are too similar, Haku thought as he looked down on Hiro. Hiro has the same eyes as her, and he's short for a boy. And I never heard of the Spirit of the North ever having human slaves before. But he had seen what happened to Chihiro in the viewing of Kimiko's memories. She had disappeared in a mysterious light. But what happened after that? Maybe Chihiro didn't die. Maybe Kimiko was lying all along about everything. After all, she was quite a good liar and it was too strange on how she appeared with a human boy as a servant. Doubt after doubt began to arise in Haku's mind and he had the feeling that Hiro would help confirm some of those doubts.

If this is really Chihiro, then I'll apologize for my inappropriate behaviour, Haku decided as he reached out to the collar of Hiro's robes.

"Please, Kohaku-sama, this is really getting weird," Hiro said with a bright red face but Haku ignored him and roughly yanked at his robes.