Kimiko raised her brows in amusement as she entered her suite and found it empty. She had just returned after two hours and did not expect an empty room. "Now, where did my baby brother bring my pets?" she wondered out loud as her blue eyes scanned the room cynically. Her blue eyes glowed and she could sense the presence of their spirits linger in the room. Murmuring soft, ancient words under her breath, her blue eyes glowed brighter and then she felt as if a cold rush of water burst out of nowhere, dragging her spirit into the raging current of time. When the cold feeling went away, everything had a surreal glow, letting her know that the spell she casted had worked. Kimiko observed quietly as she watched the scene from two hours ago replayed.

"Oh, Kohaku only went to clean them, how considerate," she laughed as Haku led the humans out of the suite. Kimiko followed the apparitions of her spell and soon found herself on Haku's floor. She inhaled deeply and the glow of the spell slowly seeped away from the room and into her being, cancelling her spell. She cleared her throat and then went to approach the door that led to the bath.

Haku looked up as he heard the door open and he wasn't surprised to find Kimiko standing there. The dragon woman allowed her eyes to glide along the room, taking in the puddles of water and the various bottles that lay scattered on the floor. A pile of tattered clothes, she assumed it was the humans', were thrown in a small basket. Her eyes stopped on the figure of her youngest brother on his knees, a rag in his hand, as he was wiping some blood off of the floor. "What happened here?" she mused out loud. "This doesn't look like my servants took a bath, but more like a fight had occurred. Did you, perhaps, try to force Hiro into the bath?" Haku glowered at her and she laughed. "No wonder this room is such a mess. Ahh, Kohaku, your cheek is red. Don't tell me you tried to force Hiro out of his clothes as well. I'm not at all surprised, I knew the semblance between Hiro and the girl would rattle your mind."

Haku remained silent as he rose to his feet and walked to the other end of the room where he dumped the blood-soaked rag in a wooden bin full of water. He was indeed embarrassed; his actions were rather extreme but he did not expect that such a scrawny human would be able to inflict so much damage. The bleeding scratches that his robes hid were slowly starting to seal but nonetheless the human had been able to damage him. It was understandable though. He now understood why Hiro did not want to undress around others. Haku shook his head as the image of Hiro's disfigured body seared in his mind. "Did the Spirit of the North really do that?" he asked in a low voice, appalled by the cruelty of it all.

Kimiko quietly observed her brother who she can see was trembling. She did not need him bursting into the Spirit of the North's domain seeking to avenge Hiro's humiliation. So she carefully answered him. "I merely took Hiro from his enslavement. I did not care to ask what kind of treatment was inflicted on him. For all I know, this may have been inflicted by another spirit or human." The trembling didn't stop so she added, "do not do something foolish as to seek out the Spirit of the North yourself, Kohaku. We do not need to stir more trouble with this great spirit. If you want to uphold the humans' safety, mentioning their presence will not help at all." She pursed her lips before striding to his side, placing a hand on his shoulder. He glanced up at her with his jaded green eyes and she let out a sigh. "Make sure that our mother does not notice those scratches. She'll wonder where they're from," Kimiko said and she made her way to the door, leaving Haku alone with the tub of water slowly turning pink from the bloody rag.

The boiler let out a shrill whistle as the sootballs began feeding the burning flames with more coals. Kamaji was already up pounding herbs together to create the day's set of bath mixtures. He sniffed, using on of his many hands to wipe his large nose and another hand to wipe the sweat off of his brow. He heard the soft rattling sound of one of the sootballs telling him something but he barked it away as reached for the drawers at the back of the boiler room, rummaging for one of the herbs. The soft rattling grew louder and louder until finally Kamaji turned his head to acknowledge the sootballs. "What, what? What is it, you pesky sootballs?"

The sootballs crowded together around the feet of Lin who stood there with a look of exasperation. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was tapping her foot, the sootballs being careful not to get crushed under her. "Kamaji, I was beginning to wonder if you'd turn around," she said in an annoyed voice.

""Lin, you should've spoke up. You know I don't listen to these fools," Kamaji chuckled as he set down his pestle down on the table. Using a wooden paddle, he scraped the crushed herbs out of the mortar and into the small chute on the other side of the wall. Once the last bit of powder was out of the mortar, he turned again to face Lin. "Well, what is it? I haven't gotten all day."

The weasel spirit gazed at him for several moments, contemplating. Finally, she shook her head and approached his work table, placing a small pouch before him. "Haku told me to give this to you. Leftover herbs."

The old spider spirit took the pouch in his hands and weighed it, grunting to himself and nodding. "Alright, is that it?"

Lin bit her lip and contemplated once more. Kamaji raised his bushy brows at this; she was not often this reluctant in speaking her mind. She opened her mouth and said, "one of the dragon princesses arrived today with a servant." He raised a hand for her to continue. "He was already rather beat up, a limp, swollen left eye and cheek. Haku and I insisted to let us clean his wounds but he kept refusing. Haku, he just forced him out of his top. Before I knew it, the kid was fighting our dragon, who was trying to restrain him. Left some deep scratches, that kid. Ran out the room, I suppose he went back to his master's room. But…"

"But..? What is it, Lin?" Kamaji asked, leaning in. He was intrigued as to why the weasel spirit mentioned this servant spirit. That the servant actually had a scuffle with their Haku was rather amusing. In fact, he was surprised that Haku did not retaliate and allowed himself to be hurt like that. There must be something more about this servant he thought.

"Kamaji, you wouldn't believe how hurt that kid was. Burns, bruises, scars, it was horrible," Lin whispered, her brown eyes wide from the horror she saw. Hiro's emaciated body, she could count almost all of his ribs. All those burn scars that dotted his body, a swollen area on his left side that looked like an infected cut sealing up. But what haunted her the most was the bright red mark on his abdomen. Someone had pressed searing hot metal on that boy to mark him like that. A slave mark.

"Why are you telling me all this, Lin?" Kamaji asked as the weasel-spirit took several shaky breaths.

"That kid, he looked so much like Chihiro. It was as if Chihiro was disfigured like that," she said as she covered her face with her hands. She shook her head again and let out a shaky breath. "I can't unsee it. He looked so much like Chihiro, the way he spoke, even how stumbles on his own feet. Kamaji, I can't stand seeing that kid all hurt like that. It'll be like seeing Chihiro hurt like that."

"Now, Lin, calm down, take some deep breaths," the old spirit said as he reached out with one of his long, bony arms and patted her shoulder rather awkwardly. Lin's face was pale and it was obvious that she was shaken but she still kept most of her composure. "I'm interested in this spirit, I would like to meet him. See for myself if he really does resemble my granddaughter."

Lin opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it. Although she trusted the old spirit with her life, she wasn't too sure how Haku would feel with her telling Kamaji that there were humans in the bathhouse. And that two of them were Chihiro's siblings. Heck, she wasn't even sure if she should mention Chihiro at all. She had a pretty good idea of what may have happened to the girl, but it was not something she wanted to believe just yet. Atleast, not until Haku tells her himself. And she was sure that he'll tell Kamaji as well. For now, she'll keep the humans a secret from her old friend. "Well, I'll ask Haku about that when I see him again. Just, don't tell anyone about him, okay, Kamaji?"

"Tell who? It's only me and the sootballs, ha!" he laughed before turning back to his work. "Well, if that's it, I'll return to my job. Just see to it that the servant gets some treatment."

"I will, thanks for hearing me out, Kamaji," Lin said and she left the stuffy boiler room, the sootballs returning to their routine of feeding the roaring boiler.

In Kimiko's suite, the two human children rested on the clam-shaped bed. Emiko was asleep, her small head resting on one of the delicate cushions, while Ryuu watched over his baby sister. In the adjacent bathroom, he could hear the water running. Kimiko had found the two walking with Lin back to her room and brought them back herself. Now she stands by the open window overlooking the courtyard and an evening breeze played with her dark, wavy hair. The streaks seemed to glow in the evening light which entranced the young boy who lifted his small head to look up at her. She didn't seem to notice him staring and barely moved until she felt a soft tug on the hem of her billowing sleeve. Kimiko glanced down with her blue eyes to acknowledge the young human boy tugging her sleeve.

"Yes, child?"

"Is Hiro-nii okay, oujo-chan?" Ryuu asked.

Kimiko raised a brow at the name he used to refer to her. "Hiro should be fine. There is no need to worry about him. Now, why do you call me that?"

"Oujo-chan? Because oujo-chan told Hiro-nii to call him oujo-sama," Ryuu managed to say without stumbling on his words. Kimiko let out a small, airy laugh.

"What a mouthful to say for someone so small like you," she said, amused. With one of her long fingers, she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Well, Ryuu. If anyone other than the ones you saw earlier come by my room, I would like for you to refrain from calling me "chan". Is that clear, child?" He nodded his head, and she hummed in satisfaction. Kimiko left the window and walked to the other side of the room, rapping on the door with her knuckles. "Hiro, are you almost done? I must leave the room soon, and the children cannot be left unattended."

"Y-yes, oujo-sama," came a quiet voice as the sound of running water abruptly stopped and rushed movement can be heard within the room. In just a couple minutes, the door slid open, revealing a wet-haired Hiro, his small body dressed with new green robes that were a better fit than the previous. Hiro lifted a hand to brush out his bangs from his eyes, causing the sleeve of his robe to fall down to his elbow, revealing some of the scratches and burns on his arm. "I can watch the kids now, oujo-sama."

"Good, but first, did you treat those wounds of yours?" Kimiko asked and the human boy nodded.

"I cleaned them. Thank you, oujo-sama, for your concern."

"Alright, I'll be downstairs. Do not leave this room, even if Haku does accompany you. Is that understood?"

"Yes, oujo-sama." Hiro bowed and after she stared at him for several moments, Kimiko left.

When he heard the shoji door in the front room shut close, Hiro straightened up and let out a sigh. He more or less recovered from the bathroom incident with Haku earlier. The event made him pale. Everyone saw his battered up body. It made him shudder. They must think I'm pathetic, he thought as he clenched his fists. Why couldn't Kohaku-sama just leave me alone? That was so humiliating, to be stripped like that in front of others. Having them look at me all horrified. Hiro let out a shaky breath and sank to the floor, pulling his knees to his chin and resting his forehead on them. ""I hate this…" he muttered under his breath. "This isn't a dream, it's a nightmare."

"Now I know for sure you're not Chihiro," said Haku's voice from the door. Hiro lifted his head up a bit to glare at the river spirit who stood at the door stiffly, holding a tray of food. "She would never consider this a nightmare. A dream, yes, but not a nightmare."

"What is it, Kohaku-sama?" Hiro asked in a tired but anxious voice. He was again, rather nervous because of his presence. Kohaku probably hates me, too. I hurt him. He deserves it, though, humiliating me like that. But what if he punishes me? Like how the Spirit of the North-

"I figured you must be hungry. After all, you did run from the bath without eating first," Haku said in a quiet voice as he set the tray at Hiro's feet, rising to his feet and taking a few steps back. He probably hates me because of what I did to him, Haku thought, understanding the discomfort of being too close now. He closed his jaded green eyes before sighing. "I apologize for what I did to you. I should have listened. Forgive me, Hiro."

Hiro widened his brown eyes as he watched the river spirit bow deeply before him. A great spirit like him bowing to me? So he doesn't hate me? Before he knew it, he opened his mouth and said, "It's fine, Kohaku-sama. Thank you, for being concerned with me." This brought a small smile to Haku's lips and Hiro softly smiled back.

"I'm relieved. I never wanted to make an enemy out of you. Would it be too much to ask to remain as a friend?" Haku asked, stretching out his hand to Hiro. The human boy gaped at it in shock, and remained like that until Ryuu ran up from behind him and threw his tiny arms around his neck.

"Come on, Hiro-nii! Shake onii-chan's hands!" Ryuu said excitedly and after one last moment of hesitation, Hiro reached out and took Haku's hand, and the friendship between spirit and human started once more.

Author's Note

I

Am

So

Sorry

Let's just say, things were really difficult this school year. But it's summer now, so I'll make sure not to neglect this. Forgive me and I hope this satisfies you all. Thank you for reading!