Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ A Different Beginning ❯ Finding Work at the Aburaya ( Chapter 3 )

Chihiro snatched her arm out of the young man's grip, a determined look covering her features. "Hold on one damn minute," she demanded, fairly glaring at him when he turned to look at her. "I want to know just what the hellis going on, and I'm not going one step further until you tell me."

" ... " and he narrowed his eyes, looking down at her as if she were nothing more than mud stuck to the bottom of his sandals.

She huffed in annoyance and turned toward the pig pens, I'll swim across that damn river if I have to,and started walking.

But a firm hand took hold of her wrist once more and pulled so sharply that she was turned in an instant. Then the young man grabbed both her shoulders and shook her once, twice and then leveled his eyes with hers. "The spirits in the water would kill you as soon as you dove in," he told her, his voice devoid of any emotion.

Chihiro wasn't about to let him push her around, though, even if he was the most gorgeous- Don't even think it,she chided herself. "What the hell is this place? I’m sick of this ..."

"You're in the spirit world," he told her matter-of-factly.

Chihiro's body went rigid and her eyes wide, "The ... the s-spirit world?" she asked him in more of an unbelieving whisper, but he didn't answer. Instead he took hold of her wrist once more and proceeded to almost drag her to the wooden gate not ten meters from where she had decided to stop. Not seeming to care that she was astonished beyond belief at what he'd just revealed to her.

Ooooh, bad day, she thought as they neared the garden.

"Hold your breath while we're on the bridge," he told her, reaching over to unlock the gate. "Even a tiny breath will break the spell and the attendants will see you."

She watched as he opened the gate and stood there, waiting expectantly for her to move through it, which she did in an extremely hesitant manner. Once they were in the garden he closed the gate once more and they headed towards the bridge, emerging on the main walk just near the huge sign with the ancient kanji on it. Chihiro took hold of his arm despite her better judgment and obvious dislike of the aggravatingly vague man, but he didn't seem to notice, he just lead her towards the bridge and all the strange creatures crossing it.

I've got a really bad feeling about this, she thought as the foreboding feeling in her gut rose its ugly head once again and grasped the man's arm tighter, pressing herself up against it in utter horror at the sight before her.

"Be calm," he told her in what could have passed for a soothing tone, but with him she couldn't be sure, every tone he used sounded the same, like he didn't have any emotions.

When they finally emerged from the garden they were met with two frogs holding paper lanterns and calling out "Welcome! Always nice to see you," in sort of awkward nasal voices. "Welcome, welcome."

"I'm back from my task," the man said as they walked past them, not sparing them a glance.

"Welcome back, sir," they replied with a small bow.

Sir? Chihiro wondered, cocking an eyebrow at him, just who the hellare you, buddy?

"A deep breath ..." he said, interrupting her thoughts. She inhaled deeply, finding the very idea of a single breath disrupting a "spell" absolutely ridiculous, but doing so anyway. "And hold ..."

She covered her mouth and nose with one hand, the other still holding the man's arm in a death grip and two strides later they were on the bridge, walking behind something that looked like it was covered with a yellow blanket with a red swirl pattern embroidered into it and a bucket on what she supposed was its head to keep the cloth from falling off. She almost right out laughed when they passed a few creatures that looked like huge rubber duckies waddling on small orange feet. Then, when they were half way across, she noticed a creature like the shadows she'd first seen on the main street, only it was tallish and wore a white mask that looked more like something out of "The Crow" with the red streaks above and below the eye slots. And as they passed it, the creature looked after Chihiro, turning as she moved. But the young man was completely unphased by it, so she shook off the urge to go up to the thing and poke it ... just to see if it was made out of jello or some such ridiculous thing.

Wonder why it can see me and no one else can? she wondered briefly, nearing the end of the bridge.

At the end stood four or five women with long large faces in red yukata and white hakama, they were nearly gushing over the weird creatures as they passed. "Welcome back!" they said simultaneously to four identical creatures that looked like they came right out of the Where the Wild Things Arestory book, "We missed you!"

Yeah, I just bet you did, she thought to herself, bunch of pansy, long-faced … weirdoes.

"Hang on, we're almost- " came the voice from the man she was walking with, but then a smaller, nearly regular-sized frog ran up to them when they were almost off the bridge completely.

What the hell is wrong with this place?!she wanted to scream, the overload on her reality sensors nearly driving her crazy. The creatures and now the frogs ... she hadto be losing her mind.

"Haku-sama!" it cheered as it jumped up at him, "Where have you ... "

Unknowingly, Chihiro had gasped when it jumped up, then quickly covered her mouth again, Oh shit!

The miniature frog, or what was miniature in the alternate reality that she'd been thrown into, landed deftly, looking up at her in complete confusion. "Wha ... A human?" then he jumped up and looked her right in the face, like he was trying to discern if she were really standing there or not.

Haku, as the frog had called him, took a slight step back then raised his right hand and a sort of translucent black bubble popped up surrounding the kaeru. "Run!" he said, grabbing her hand and darting around the stunned and floating kaeru. To her astonishment, they almost flew past the slugs, who cried out "What?" and laughed as the wind from their passing blew up their clothes.

In a second flat, they were in front of a small door in a white terrace, Haku opened it and she immediately took the hint to go inside, he followed soon after then closed the door lightly. Before she knew it, they were running through yet another garden, only this time, it was right outside of the Aburaya, stopping when they reached a group of bushes just near a sliding door. From the inside came voices, most likely more frogs and slugs, calling out, "Haku-sama! Haku-sama! Chase after it! A human intruder. I smell humans! The stench of humans!"

Haku had placed an arm around her shoulders again and she sat with her knees tucked close to her chest. "They know you're here," he said distantly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking over at him then stopped midway and looked at the bush instead. He's helped me without even knowing who I am,she thought, somewhat ashamed of the way she'd acted towards him since she had first met him. If he's as important as I think he is, he could probably get into a lot of trouble helping me ...

"No, Chihiro, you did well," he said, capturing her gaze with his own.

She shook her head, "No, not just that, I wanted to apologize for how rude I've been, and well … I'm sorry."

He nodded once and that was the end of it. "Listen and I'll tell you what to do," he explained, his face moving closer to hers as he spoke and she couldn't help but think about just how easy it would be to kiss him just then.

Traitorous teenage hormones, she cursed, mentally beating the thought out of her head.

"Stay here and they'll find you. I'll distract them, in the meantime, you escape."

She waited a moment, weighing her few options, "Couldn't you stay with me, I don't know if I can do this on my own."

"You have no choice, if you want to survive here and save your parents, too."

She backed away from him a little, looking off into the bushes again. "So they did turn into pigs ... I wasn't dreaming ..."

Haku placed his hand on her forehead, a pale blue glow emintating form where he touched her skin. "Be still," he said and she looked up at him with an inquisitive gaze. "When things quiet down, go out the back gate."

Then to her astonishment, she saw a wooden gate much like the one they had crawled into this garden through, in her mind. His voice was ethereal now, too, as he spoke to her, images appearing like ripples in water. This door was surrounded by blooming azalea bushes, then it opened all on its own to show her a landing just outside of it and a long flight of wooden stairs leading down. "Take the stairs, all the way down,” and as the view descended it sped up until she saw a metal door with a light over and to the right of the top and a few pipes with steam drifting from them. "Until you reach the boiler room, where they stoke the fires," the door opened to reveal a hall full of more steaming pipes with a glowing yellow-red light at the end of the short hallway. "Kamaji's there, so look for him," Hake told her finally, taking his hand from her forehead.

She killed the urge to shake her head, his hand had been deathly cold even before whatever magic he'd been using was out into play. "Kamaji?"

He nodded once, "Ask him for work. Even if he refuses, insist. If you don't work," he said nearing her again."Yubaba will turn you into an animal."

Hot water woman? she thought, nearly laughing at the irony of it. "Who's Yubaba?"

"You'll see. She's the sorceress who rules our world. Kamaji will turn you away, trick you into leaving, but keep asking him for work. It'll be hard work, but it will give you a chance. Then even Yubaba can't harm you."

I think I just hit a God-mode cheat, just then. But on the outside she was worried, who turned people into animals, it was complete overkill, why not just tell them to leave and be done with the whole thing? "If you say so ..."

Then the voices from inside rose again, "Haku-sama! Haku-sama!" they yelled, running around obviously searching for him.

Haku looked back at the door, "I have to go." He gazed back at her and she nodded with a slight smile, acknowledging that she understood. "Remember, Chihiro, I'm your friend," he said standing.

"How do you know my name? This is the second time you've called it, but I never told you what it was."

"I've known you since you were small," he explained, his dark green hair falling about his shoulders as he leaned towards her. "My name is Haku," then he let go of her hands and turned to walk into the building. "Here I am."

A frog from inside opened the sliding doors to let him in and Chihiro mentally shuddered at the sound of its nasal voice. "Haku-sama, Yubaba wants you."

From her place in the group of bushes, Chihiro watched the exchange, What's she want with him I wonder?Then she ducked back into the bushes and waited ... hoping that whoever the Yubaba woman was, that she wouldn't turn her into an animal.

"I know. It's about my task," she heard Haku say before the sound of the door shutting muffled any further conversation coming from the inside.

Chihiro remained for a moment longer, pressing her knees against her closed eyes and her hair draped around her like a curtain, then she laughed lightly to herself. Please tell me they don't dance around with fans.Then she moved towards where Haku had shown her the door to the stairs was located and opened it as quietly as she possibly could, trying to keep from drawing any attention to herself. She crawled out and then closed it behind her, then turned and pressed her back up against the wall as she noticed that there wasn't any kind of railing.

You have got to be kidding me!she wanted to scream, Okay, Chihiro, it's okay, besides, if you die now then at least you're going to heaven because you haven't been a pain in anyone's ass ... lately ... in the past forty-five seconds ... You may just want to try to stay alive until you redeem yourself.

Yes, Chihiro, thank you for the vote of confidence.

You're very welcome. Oh and by the way, good luck with the stairs, they look like a killer, then she heard the other Chihiro walk off cackling to herself.

Beautiful, she thought, absolutely beautiful.

Then with a heaving sigh she took hold of the wooden patterns on the wall and edged along it towards the stairs. As she inhaled a calming breath the train passed below and she couldn't help but watch it as it chugged on down the tracks. She then decided that the train was mocking her, it had to have been, because no train goes by when a person is trying not to look down because they're going down a very steep flight of stairs, oh and did I mention that there were no handrails and the wall ended at the second step? Must have forgotten ... ho crap.

This sucks, she thought, sinking down to the wooden planks of the floor and slid to the first step, the wind blowing her longish hair back. She inched her way down to the next step, scooting from one to another in a sitting position, moving her legs down to the third step, her rear end to the second step. Well, now,she decided, this isn't too bad, maybe I'm just being childish.

Then she stood up and stepped onto the fourth stair, testing the sturdiness by shifting her weight from one foot to the other. When she was satisfied Chihiro snorted, "See, I wasn't scared, not for a minute."

She stepped down onto the fifth step and it splintered, giving out under her weight, and she screamed as she crashed down the remaining steps of that flight, until she was able to stand up again. But even standing up she wasn't able to stop from running; she ran and ran, crying out almost hysterically as she realized that she would either run off the edge of the stairs or into a wall. It was the latter that seemed was going to occur though, because a rather solid-looking wall was coming up rather quickly and she was still having some trouble with the breaks.

Chihiro ran smack into the wall, the familiar sound of something within her breaking resounded in her ears and she just knew she wasn't going to be able to function properly in the morning. But hey, she was still alive, that hadto be a plus ... of some sort. Then she heard the sound of a window opening and voices following soon after and she looked up to see a kaeru poking his head out to exhale smoke from a cigarette. She could feel herself going stiff again, trying to get some reasonable form of sanity into her psyche was going to prove difficult after this trip, she knew it would. She inched around the corner into the shadows, hoping against hope that it wouldn't see her and alert all its freaky friends of her presence. Who knew, maybe the cigarette smoke was keeping it from smelling her, because according to the things that had been looking for Haku and herself while they were in the garden, they could smell her.

I don't smell that bad, besides, at least I'm not a frog ... or a slug,she thought with an indignant snigger as she proceeded down the rest of the stairs. What's up with the lady turning people into animals, though? Harsh much ... geeze, maybe she's got some sort of superiority complex ... gotta be prettier and better than everyone else. Like I don't know a few people like that. Wonder if Dad and Mom are alright ...

And on her thoughts went until she had finally reached the final flight, her aching legs threatening to give out beneath her due to the sustained abuse over the past thirty minutes. She hopped down the last three stairs, fairly put out that they were the only ones that had a railing of anysort, and turned to see the metal door with the light over and to the right of the top, just as Haku had shown her. She whistled in a low tone and smiled slightly, impressed that he'd been absolutely right about where it was.

Well, duh, Kami knows just how long he's lived here ... I wouldn't wanna live here, freak the hell outta me.

Chihiro put a hand up against the cool, rusted metal door and gazed inside through the small square window, but the glass was fogged up and all she could make out was a faintly glowing yellow-red light surrounded by darkness. A slight look of indecision crossed her features for a moment but still she turned the knob, the door swinging open towards her with a faint creak. She looked around the inside and found pipes of various sizes all with a reading instrument of some sort on the front and steam spilling from the seams like gravity-defying waterfalls. Closing the door behind herself, she headed inside, a slightly queasy feel playing through her chest and stomach.

There was a room beyond the hallway of pipes, it was full of an orangish-yellow light that casted multi-toned dancing shadows on a wall that looked like it was made of drawers. It was then that she noticed a small white sink up against the short wall on the right, near the pipes. Above it was a small rectangular mirror, a mop in a metal pail and a single bare bulb light hanging down from the ceiling next to a cloth which was drying on a hangar suspended by a line running from the wall to the pipe closest to it.

At least I know someone lives here, she reassured herself with a slightly nervous laugh, grasping her elbow as she crossed her arms against her ribcage.

Inching towards the other room, the sound of metal clanging and the small grinding sound became louder, the former almost deafening. The heat and smell of something burning grew in intensity as well, but that was typical, she supposed, it wasa boiler room after all. When she peeked around the corner of the wall, the first thing to catch her attention was a huge furnace, spitting flames from several flues at the top. Then she noticed smallish black things scurrying back and forth, carrying blocks of shining black stone, and she cocked an eyebrow at them, half amused by the sight. And finally her gaze fell to a bald old man with a huge mustache and small sunglasses, he was grinding something at a wooden station near the furnace.

Bet you a thousand yen that's him, she thought to the "other" Chihiro, and despite her earlier smart-assed-ness, she didn't answer. Pansy ...

A kettle, yellow and old-looking, sat just behind him on the wooden frame and a bowl of the same color sat at the front, empty save for a pair of hashi and a blue cup. On the side facing her, there were three large, clear jugs with contents she couldn't begin to guess at, except for the fact that they looked like dried-out plants of some sort or another. The station itself was conveniently facing the readout dials on the furnace and then she noticed a small red tag with a fat black stripe running through the top hanging from the ceiling by a purple ribbon.

She shook her head slightly, a little confused at the whole scene and watched the little black creatures a little longer. They were running back and forth from the holes under the wall of drawers to the furnace, carrying the black blocks. When they threw the blocks into the hole that opened and closed via a metal grate, she surmised that what they were carrying had to be coal ... they sure as hell couldn't be throwing obsidian into a furnace ... that'd be such a waste. Then the old man moved and her eyes were immediately drawn to the movement.

Two arms came from around his stomach, he must have been crossing them because she hadn't seen them there earlier, and he grabbed some red material from the middle jug that she'd noticed earlier. Spreading it onto the grinding stone as he scratched his head he continued with the monotonous motion of turning the materials into what she guessed was a fine powder. She gulped and her eyes widened a little as he pulled back a handle and two morearms came out, the left one spinning a metal wheel for a few turns. A ding came from a bell somewhere around where he sat and he kept on working, seemingly oblivious to her presence completely.

Chihiro grasped her shirt in her fingers and backed away from the strange sight, hiding behind the corner again. A plume of steam puffed from one of the pipes and she spun around instantly, her oversized shirt billowing as her hair settled to the middle of her back. She let out a sigh as she remembered what Haku had said then turned back to see the old man stop spinning the wheel and bang a small gavel against the wood of his station. The small black creatures all headed back into the holes beneath the wall of drawers, even the ones that had already started coming out again with coal in hand.

She peeked out again to see him still grinding and then hesitantly moved forward, one foot at a time. Just relax, Chihiro, he's not scary, he just looks like a big six-legged spider-man ...Taking a deep breath, she resigned herself to face up and ask the man ... spider ... person, for a job, she needed one if she was going to save her parents, damnit.

"Excuse me," she called out, her voice sounding more sure than she felt.

He glanced over at her and picked up the kettle with one of the hands that wasn't occupied with some task or another, and took a swig of its contents before looking back down at his work.

Her eye twitched in annoyance, Okay then ... at least he didn't try to eat me or anythingShe stepped down off the hardwood floor onto the packed dirt ground and made her way over to him. "Excuse me, sir, are you Kamaji?"

"Hunh?" he grunted, looking over at her then back at what he was doing, brushing the contents from the grinding stone into what looked to her like a box or pipeline. When he was apparently finished with that, he moved to get a closer look at her.

She stood firm, her fingers finally releasing the fabric of her shirt, the other holding onto her elbow still. "Haku sent me. I'd like to work here."

Just as the last word left her mouth, four more tags fell from the slot in the ceiling with a clanking and a tingling ring. The old man looked back at them, "Darn, all at once ..." Gathering them in his hands, he grumbled and picked up his gavel again as he looked back towards where the little black creatures had disappeared, smacking it against the metal wheel a few times. "Get to work, you little runts."

Chihiro's eyebrows lowered in her confusion, Buh~wha?she wondered, looking back to her right.

"I'm ... Kamaji," the old man said, spinning the metal wheel and grabbing more of the red material, spreading it onto the grinding stone. "Slave to the boilers that heat the baths," he continued, scooping up more and more of the different materials from jugs the she couldn't see on the other side of the wooden station, spreading them onto the grinding stone as well. "Step on it, runts!"

"I hate to be rude, but please let me work here. I need a job," she said over the loud thudding of the metal grate and Kamaji's grinding.

He looked back at her, still working, "I've got all the help I need. The place is full of soot. Plenty of replacements."

As he turned back to his work her face dropped into a look of utter confusion, Soot? Replacements? Well … something is wrong with him ... not enough sunlight or something ...Then she looked back to see the creatures carrying coal to the furnace again. Wait a second ...they're the soot!

The many little soot balls carted the blocks of coal to the furnace and tossed them from a ledge into the opening, hurrying back once their load was gone to get more. Then she felt something bump into her ankle and she glanced down to see a block of coal running repeatedly into her ankle, obviously hinting that she was in the way. She scooted her foot away and still more came up, bumping into her ankles, not intelligent enough to just go around. Though waythey had to walk up into the corner she was standing in was completely beyond her.

"Hold on just a second," she told them as they continued to gather around her feet. Sidestepping along the edge of step up to the hardwood floor, she made her way to the wall of drawers and stood, shaking her head, For walking soot balls, they're not all that smart. I mean come on, I know they're just soot but-

As she looked over, one of Kamaji's arms stretched impossibly towards her and motioned for her to move when she just stood there with a stupid look on her face. "Outta the way!"

She kind of half sat, half laid on the hardwood floor as he opened the drawer and scooped out some of the material, then closed it before reaching into another, higher drawer to scoop out a different material. His arm retracted back towards the station he was working at and he spread the materials onto the grinding stone, not once halting his progress. He pulled on two of the purple ribbons and they shot back up into the slot in the ceiling, but Kamaji kept on working.

Chihiro sat down on the hardwood floor with a sigh, I'm not gonna give upthat easily, Kamaji-san.She smiled in her own bout of determination and crossed her arms before placing them on her legs to wait until he wasn't as busy. I can wait as long as you can work, I guarantee that.

The spider-like man worked amazingly, though, she decided. He never once stopped what he was doing, just kept on, like an energizer battery or something of the sort. Must be kinda nice having six arms,she thought, if you're gonna do this kind of work in this kinda place. I mean, hell, he can't have much of a social life ... but then neither do I so I guess it's alright.She laughed lightly to herself, I knowI'd like to have six arms sometimes. I wonder if the Yubaba made him like this ... if she did then she seriously sucks.

The grinding stopped for a moment and she looked over immediately, thinking it was her chance to ask him for a job again. He looked like he was brushing the powder from the grinding stone into the pipeline again and she started to get up. But then he turned the wheel again and grabbed more materials, setting out to start grinding them into a fine powder again, so she sat back down.

Oh, yeah, this Yubaba lady really sucks. I haven't even met her yet and I hate her.