Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ Kohaku's Quest ❯ Kohaku's quest ( Chapter 7 )

Disclaimer: This is a fanfic only. I do not own the rights to either of the characters or to the story the fic's based on. But y'all know that.

Chapter seven; Intense dreams

Nighttime. Chihiro's room was finally still, after several hours of turning around in the bed. The conversation with Manani had been very unpleasant and tearing. Chihiro hadn't truly thought it trough after all. She had no answer to why she so suddenly wanted to ended what they had built up together - as Manani saw it. He, who for so many years had fancied and in time loved her could not possible accept this sudden unexpected turn. There were tears, cries and shouting. For a moment, Chihiro was afraid that Manani would be violent, unable to focus his feelings as he was. But finally, she had convinced him that as she saw it, the two of them would never have a future together. Manani still thought she had gone mad, but he had at least returned her key. Chihiro still had traces of tears in her face; some kept falling yet.

<I didn't know it would hurt so much to hurt someone else... And his eyes! I think he hate me now. I really do...>

Chihiro made a sob, hissing to try to ease the pain. It felt as if her head would explode. She tried to relax, but did not really want to sleep. Unwillingly, Chihiro dozed off and fell into a confusing dream.

Chihiro stood in the middle of a blooming field surrounded by pale-green trees. Butterflies and bumblebees were buzzing around, creating a song of nature along with the soft sound the wind caused passing the trees. Chihiro looked around, feeling happy. To her left there was a fresh well, crystal clear and tempting. Chihiro went right up to it and kneeled, bent over to see her own reflection. But her hair fell in the water and stirred it so she couldn't. Instead, Chihiro drew her arm trough the water. It was cold, as wells tend to be. Driven by an impulse, Chihiro sledded forward and let her head dive under the water. Under the surface, there was a whole new melody to listen to. It was a vast, yet somehow limited sound. Listening hard, Chihiro understood it was the sound of the fine sand moving on the bottom of the well. She had just begun to hear some kind of rhythm in it when she needed air. She started to pull her head up, but hesitated as a beloved voice called from beyond.

Breathe me and bathe in me.

Chihiro was not surprised by the voice. Somehow, she'd be puzzled if it hadn't been there. But she shook her head, thinking she needed air. She would die otherwise.

Breathing air will kill you. Breathe me and bathe in me.

No, that was not possible! She needed air now; she already began to loose the little she had left in her lungs. She twitched her head, but some force made it impossible for her to move.

Now panicking, Chihiro yelled under the water and lost all her air. Gasping after more, she swallowed water.

Do not swallow it. Breathe.

But I will die!

No you won't. Not if you breathe.

I can't... It's all getting black...

Breathe!

Chihiro breathed deeply and felt the water fill her lungs. She breathed again, and again, each time more calm as she realised she could actually breathe the water. She could feel her body accept these new terms they were familiar to.

Of cause. Unborn babies breathe water.

Bathe in me.

Now relying the voice, Chihiro let her body slip down in the water and dove. She swam down to the bottom and heard the song of the sand more clearly. Her hair floated all around her body, which, discovered Chihiro surprised, was undressed. Ashamed, she wrapped her hair around her.

Do not do that.

Chihiro held her hair against her body and looked for the voice speaking.

Please, do not do that.

Now the voice was tender and begging, so Chihiro let her hair float out. The voice had seen her anyhow.

Please, let me see you too, she thought.

I'm already here, Chihiro.

Surprised, Chihiro turned around, forced her hair to flow up. For a moment, she looked like a traditional image of a mermaid. And stunned, Chihiro gazed into a pair of swirling green eyes belonging to a wonderful, white creature with green mane.

Joyful, she embraced the white serpent, held her forehead against his.

I claim thee now. I will never let you go.

And then the dream floated out into another.

/ Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi /

Kohaku stood in a garden he never had seen before. It was curious, because the garden was somehow familiar though unknown. Trying to figure out what part of it he recognised, Kohaku looked around. There were trees, flowers, blooming bushes and ordinary ones. The blooming bushes was familiar for sure, but it weren't them Kohaku focused at. It was the ordinary ones. Silent, he approached them, keeling in front of them.

What was that sound? It seemed as if the bushes were singing.

Listening strongly, Kohaku heard the sound came from under ground, right in front of the bushes. Without thinking, he began to dig with his bare hands.

It was a hard work, but the mud seemed to move away, as if it was digging itself. And soon enough Kohaku felt his hands get all wet. He had reached a underground water mass.

Joyful, he thought he perhaps had found a new river to master.

No. This river is mine.

That voice was also familiar. Kohaku searched for the source of the voice, but saw no one.

You can't see me until you release me.

Kohaku was not frightened at all, because the voice was so clear and calm. He wondered how he could help it.

I need you to remember.

To remember what? Kohaku was eager to help, but the voice said no more. Kohaku felt upset and began to dig even more furious, yearning to hear the voice again. He got muddy and wet and tired, and finally he had to rest. Exhausted, he laid on his back, stirring at the pale green bushes. Wherever had he seen them before?

Whoever had he seen them with?

Narrowing his eyes, Kohaku sat up and gazed at the bushes. They had grown taller and bigger, but it was they! It was the bushes that drank Chihiro's tears for so long ago.

And many more tears have fallen since then. My tears make the river.

Kohaku felt his chest ache at this. Whoever was so sad that he or she could cry a whole river?

"Where are you? I want to see you!" Kohaku shouted.

Kohaku now felt he had deserved to see the owner of this soft voice.

Then you must wake up.

Wake up, Kohaku!

Kohaku woke. Lost in an unfamiliar city, he sat on a roof where he despite the chilly wind felt warm and comfortable. Daylight was to break; still the sky was partly pink. In few moments, the streets would be crowded with people going every direction. Kohaku saw it all; the streets, the constructions, all creating a fuzzy pattern as a merry-go-round. Down there, beneath him and around him, dwelled many human spirits, awaiting yet another day of action or stillness. As a field of flowers, of which a few bloomed at dawn and others at dusk, but the most during the full day. Each one having their own personal scent and individual colour.

<And I'll be amongst them. Somewhere here, somewhere in this city is my Chihiro to be found. Somewhere here.>

Chapter eight to follow.