AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hopefully you all don't hate me too much for the previous chapter! I just can't write something lovey-dovey without making it at least a little interesting, right?! Anyway, this time we get to see the river dreams from Haku's POV, so that's something new. :] Also, please be aware that whenever you see (…), this means that the POV is changing. Enjoy the feels, and please let me know what you think!

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Blood. So much blood.

Haku was suffocating as the water of his river was polluted with more and more blood. Where was all of this coming from? Nothing living in his river was hurt… so what was bleeding?

In the distance, feeble words were spoken through gasps, "You're safe now, Haku. I love you… remember me."

That voice… so familiar… as if he'd heard it a thousand times…

Haku froze, realizing with increasing horror whose voice it was.

"Chihiro?!" He called out, frantic. "Chihiro, where are you?!"

There was no reply, only more blood.

Haku closed his eyes and merged his consciousness with his river fully, sensing there wasn't any time to waste. Whoever was injured wouldn't last much longer while losing this much blood. And if that person was Chihiro…

When his eyes opened again, he was everything. He was the water and the sediment and the rocks; he was even the algae and the moss. In this moment, Haku had no physical form. In this moment, Haku was Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi and he was the river. Haku sent out forceful waves in place of arms and hands in order to see if either Chihiro or the source of the blood could be located. After scouring every inch of himself, Haku cursed under his breath; nothing out of the ordinary had been found within his river. The blood was coming from a nearby water source.

It was then that Haku saw a vague figure floating in the distance.

Haku used all of his power to force his currents in the direction of the floating figure. When he reached the very edge of himself, at the exact place where his river ended and the sea began, he had no choice but to stop. One of the few limitations in the Spirit World was that a spirit was not able to cross over into another spirit's domain while without a physical body. For Haku, this meant that he was never allowed to cross into another body of water or to encroach onto land. Spirits were given guardianship over one place and that was the only place they were able to go when abandoning their physical forms. Unable to go any further, Haku watched the floating figure intensely, trying to discern any of its identifying characteristics. Under the smoldering rays of the rising sun, only one thing could be determined for sure.

The floating figure had a glimmering purple hair-band around its wrist.

...

Was she dying? If she was, it certainly didn't hurt like she imagined it would. Actually, her entire body was rather numb and tingly. The only source of discomfort was coming from her abdomen, but even then it was only a dull stinging sensation that didn't really bother her all that much. What did bother her was that the only thing she could think about was Haku. Shouldn't she be concerned about the possibilities of death? Shouldn't she be concerned about where she was and if she was going to get home? Shouldn't she be worried about living and finding her way back to the Bath House?

The Bath House.

Something happened at the Bath House, but she couldn't really remember what it was. Maybe whatever happened was why she was dying. Did she get hurt? Did she fall? What the hell happened to her?

Sen opened her eyes slightly. Where was she?

"Where…" She started to say before the previously dull pain in her abdomen wouldn't let her continue. Sen then noticed that when she spoke, not only could she breath pure oxygen, but her words came out in little bubbles that floated towards the surface.

She was floating underwater… but where?

She knew without a doubt that she wasn't in the Kohaku River, the water tasted too wrong for that to be the place. Come to think of it, she couldn't really taste the water at all. The only thing she recognized was the coppery taste of blood in her mouth. It was then that Sen noticed the water she was floating in wasn't clear like it should have been; it was darkened with what she assumed was the blood she tasted.

Looking down, she saw that the blood around her was seeping steadily from a deep wound in her abdomen.

Well that explained a lot. So she was dying.

Sen thought for a moment, forcing her mind to recover what had happened before this. Quick flashes of memories played in front of her eyes: an imposter masquerading Haku kissing her, the control slug being planted, Yubaba's disguised voice in her mind goading her to kill Haku, falling asleep with Haku, waking up unable to control her own body, the sword… the balcony… the fall…

She felt a strange sense of relief at remembering everything; even though she would probably die, Haku would probably be safe from Yubaba. The old hag did say that Sen's life would do as repayment in place of Haku's anyway. Which in retrospect made sense because Yubaba only wanted Haku dead so he would no longer be more powerful than her; but with Sen out of the picture, Haku would most likely go back to not being a threat anymore. Besides, Sen knew that she would die in this world eventually. She was a human with a lifespan of maybe 60 more years and Haku was a river spirit who would live forever. Wasn't it better for it to happen now, before they could get any more attached to each other? Yes, she though contentedly, yes this was better. Haku could get over her and move on now. He would never have to worry about saving her ever again.

An all-too familiar voice called to her from the distance, "Chihiro?! Chihiro, is that you?! Please answer me if that's you, Chihiro!"

"H… Haku…?" She managed through gasps. No, he couldn't be here now. That would ruin everything! She had to let him go because she was going to die. Seeing him now would only make letting go that much harder.

"Oh God, Chihiro it is you. Hold on, I will be there in just a moment. Please just hang on!"

"N… no…" The sharp pain that accompanied her speaking prevented her from finishing again.

Haku was going to try to save her even though she very well knew it was too late.

Letting go was going to hurt much more than this.

...

Haku knew he had two choices: he could wake up, severing his mental connection with Chihiro but then having the ability to physically go out and try to find her or he could remove his consciousness from his river and thus have the ability to be directly next to Chihiro within seconds. If he severed their mental connection, he may not be able to get to her in time… but if stayed with her like this while they were both unconscious, she may die anyway.

An impossible choice.

"H… Haku…" Chihiro murmured through gasping breaths.

To Hell with it, he wasn't leaving her.

It only took a moment for Haku to remove his consciousness from his river. He was then able to materialize in his river and cross the boundary into the sea where Chihiro was. Haku was next to her within seconds.

"Oh God…" Haku saw how deep the wound was and that there was a steady stream of blood coursing from it. "Chihiro… God, what happened to you?!"

He frantically attempted to put his hands over the wound to ease the bleeding but she stopped him, "D… don't. You… you're safe… now, Haku. So j… just... let me…"

"No!" He cried, knocking her hands aside and holding his palms on her abdomen. "How can you ever, ever think that I would just let you DIE?! Do you want me to give up on you so easily? Do you want to leave me so badly?"

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, "It… will be… s… so much har… harder now…"

Haku could feel the hysterics that were building in his chest, "Do not dare give up on me, Chihiro! I was prepared to wait for you forever, but you came back to me. You came home to me. How can you just resign to death so easily?! Don't you want to be with me anymore? Don't you want to spend forever as my wife?"

Chihiro reached up to touch her fingertips to Haku's face, "O… of course… I do…"

He turned into her hand, closing his eyes, "Then how can you just expect me to let you go? How can you expect me to stop loving you?"

"I… it had to be… you… or me…"

Haku's eyes snapped open as the implications of her statement sank in, "Yubaba made you choose."

Chihiro looked into the sunrise above the water's surface as her mahogany hair billowed around her head angelically, "I would… ch… choose the same… again…"

He bit his lip, sloppy tears spilling haphazardly from his eyes. The resignation in Chihiro's voice was so heartbreaking, Haku was certain he would never know the feeling of happiness ever again.

She wiped a few tears from his face weakly and Haku broke.

Hard, violent sobs ripped from Haku's chest viciously as he cried, "Chihiro, please. Please don't give up. I'm begging you. I will do anything for you to fight, just don't give in to death so easily. You are my reason for being, my world and everything in it. You saved me Chihiro, you gave me my name back… you gave me my life back, but I don't want any of it if I can't have you. I was going to wait for you until the end of days, but you came home. You couldn't remember me, but you still managed to come home. Doesn't that mean something? Isn't that proof that you were meant for me?" His hands shook uncontrollably as he sobbed. "Please don't do this to me; I don't think I can take it. I know you did this to save me, but what kind of life is there for me without you, Chihiro? At least when you were back in your own world, I knew you were safe. If you were to die here, like this… because of me…" Haku finally couldn't speak anymore. His sharp, ferocious sobs made it impossible for any more words to make it past his trembling lips. Brutal, unrelenting tears took the place of words and Haku doubled over onto Chihiro's breast.

The pain of losing the only women he would ever love was so unbearable, he could hardly breathe.

...

In this moment, Sen knew that no manner of death would ever hurt as much as this. Nothing in the world would ever hurt more than seeing Haku, her strong, infallible river spirit, completely broken and unravelling before her eyes. He just continued to sob on her chest, crying and pleading for her to fight, begging her not to leave him.

She would take death over this pain.

"H… Haku… please… s… stop…" Sen cried. "I… love you…"

He looked up at her, his swollen jade eyes glistening with desperation and pain. Without hesitation, Haku kissed her with more emotion than she realized was possible. Tears streamed from his eyes and onto her cheeks, melding with her own as he tried to stifle his sob. Sen entangled her hands in Haku's long, freely flowing hair and gripped tightly as if he would disappear if she let go. When he finally broke their kiss, Haku didn't open his eyes. He simply rested his forehead against Sen's as he continued to cry.

"I love you, Chihiro," his voice was broken, cracked. "I am begging you; please, stay with me. Come back with me and be my wife, have my children. We can violate our contracts and run. We can go anywhere you want in this world, I don't care. I will do anything for you if you just stay with me."

It was then that Sen knew just how naïve she had been. How could she have ever thought, even for a moment, that she would be able to just let Haku go? This man was everything. He was her reason for breathing and for waking up in the morning. She waited 13 years for him without even knowing it and yet, she had been ready to just give up and die without a second thought. How could she have ever thought that Haku would move on?

They were meant for each other, like two pieces of a perfectly interlocking puzzle.

Now, she made her choice.

"H… Haku…" She gasped desperately, gripping his hands on her abdomen. "D… don't me go… Don't… don't let me… die…"

"Never," Haku sobbed, kissing her through a never-ending stream of tears. "I will never let you go."

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Zeniba quickly snatched a bright blue cloak from the coat rack as Noh-Face spun silently in the corner. As she wrapped the cloak around herself, Noh-face looked up.

"Ah, ah?" Noh-face asked, motioning to the large red ruby on the neckline of Zeniba's dress.

"Yes," the witch fingered the jewel. "Sen has made her final choice. It's time for us to go and ensure that it was not made in vain."

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"You have… to try a… and find m… me…" Sen sputtered. "Or… I'll k… keep… bleeding out…"

Haku froze, tears still spilling from his eyes, "I can't just leave you here!"

Once again, she wiped the tears from his cheeks softly, "P… please… Haku… o… otherwise… I can't… be… your wife…"

The pain in his jade eyes was clear, but so was the knowledge that Sen was right. Haku kissed her fiercely before finally removing his hands from her wound. "I will find you as quickly as I can, Chihiro. Just hold on until I come."

She managed a weak smile and a single nod.

Then, Haku dissipated into the water.

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Haku awoke abruptly in his shikibuton. Without a moment's hesitation, he lunged off the bedroll and onto the balcony where he was greeted with a sharpened samurai sword that dripped bright red blood.

Rage quickly replaced the pain Haku had been feeling and he roared ferociously into the sky as his body morphed into that of his dragon. As soon as he was completely transformed, Haku sniffed the bloody blade and then leapt off the balcony into a dive directly towards the sea below the Bath House.

As soon as he found Chihiro and made sure that she would live, Haku was going to tear Yubaba limb from limb with absolutely no mercy.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Someone pointed something out to me and I would like to clarify the situation really quickly. Chihro did not stab herself intentionally, so she was not trying to kill herself to save Haku. No, no, no. She was under the control of Yubaba's control slug and once Yubaba saw that Chihiro was resisting the control slug's order to kill Haku, Yubaba made the control slug stab Chihiro instead. Chihiro couldn't move of her own free will. So again- not suicide, but attempted murder. The only reason Chihiro told Haku- "It was either you or me" is because it was true; Yubaba waa going to kill one of them, and Chihiro was just glad it wasn't Haku. Anyway, please let me know what you think!