Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ The Other World ❯ Reunited At Last ( Chapter 8 )

Soon they were up in one of the bedrooms, waiting for Lin to hand out them dry clothes.

“You're grown, Chihiro,” Lin commented approvingly, measuring them up. It was true - Chihiro was now only six inches or so shorter than the tall spirit.

Pulling on the uniform, Chihiro got another major wave of dejavu. All this was so familiar…she felt like she was there to work again. Vaguely she wondered how many people knew that she was back. Not many, she assumed, and certainly not Yubaba yet, because work was continuing on as usual. Apparently work came before gossip tonight, so word was probably spreading slowly.

Chihiro stood up and stretched. Unlike what she'd expected, she actually felt…happy. It was very strange. She felt like she'd just come home from a very long vacation. Smiling, she headed for the small room's door.

“I'm going to get some more food,” she called back to Sakura. “I'll be back soon.”

“ 'Kay!” Sakura was on her back on a futon, staring lazily at the ceiling. Chihiro doubted that she even heard.

 

When Chihiro entered the kitchen once again, she immediately saw there was something different. She winced as someone let out a high-pitched scream.

“Let go! LET ME GO! Get your disgusting, slimy hands off of me, you monsters!”

Chihiro's eyes widened in surprise. Was that KIMI's voice?! What was SHE doing here, in the Spirit's Realm? How had she gotten in?

“What is going on in here?” The cool voice came from the entrance with an air of authority that made Chihiro's skin prickle. Not from fear, but from pure shock. She suddenly couldn't move. She was afraid to believe it. Staring across the crowd, she saw him. Haku! He was here! Right here! Her mind screamed at her to do something, anything, but her body was rooted in place.

He was exactly as she remembered him. His smooth, tidy black hair framed his handsome face, out of which shone gorgeous, deep green eyes. At the moment, those eyes were flashing with annoyance.

“What's all this about? Do you want to have Yubaba come down here?”

“THIS is the problem, sir!” One toad exclaimed, pushing a squealing Kimi forward so all could see. Several gasps and exclamations went around the room. “So this is why the halls stink of human!”

Haku sighed, leaning down slightly to Kimi's eye-level. Chihiro noticed that he was noticeably taller than before. Kimi's shrieks fell silent as Haku spoke.

“What are you doing here, girl?” The question was direct, but gentle. “How did you get in?”

“She was stealing our food, Nigihayami-sama!” someone called out from the crowd.

Ah, so he went by his real name now! But then why was he still here, at the bathhouse?

“Did I ask you to speak?” He silenced them calmly. “Now…” He looked at Kimi again. “Why were you taking our food? Do you know what the punishment for that is in this world?”

 

Kimi looked up at the boy. She felt immense relief in finding a (presumable) human being among these creatures. What kind of a twisted place was this? Well, at least there were SOME real people here…This one was pretty cute, too. He also seemed to be in charge of the monsters. Kimi decided that she could trust him.

“I…I was hungry.” One she started, she found it was easier to speak. “I was REALLY hungry, I mean, like I was fading away or something. And I didn't have any money or anything, you know, so I couldn't just like, take stuff from those stores out there…”

“So you stole from us instead!” A toad growled furiously.

“Hey, this place was abandoned when I got here!” Kimi argued.

Haku sighed again. He was getting a headache. This was going to be very difficult. There hadn't been another human child in the bathhouse since…No. No, he wouldn't start thinking about her. Remembering Chihiro always distracted him. What had she been doing all these years? Had she made it home all right? Had she gotten used to her new life, maybe even forgetting him in the process…?

He shook his head, clearing his mind. He'd know that was going to happen, knew he'd distract himself again.

The crowd was riled up again.

“She smelled up the entire back corridor with her stench!” a slug shrilled angrily.

“Excuse ME, Lady Smush,” Kimi spat, causing the slug to gasp, offended, “but I never went anywhere but here!”

“You mean there are more humans here??” a toad exclaimed.

“Of course there are, you dolt!” the head cook scolded. “Sen and her friend are here.”

This caused the crowd's muttering to raise greatly in volume. Haku stopped mid-thought, murmuring under his breath, “…Sen?”

“Sen is here?”

“She came back?”

“What friend?”

“This better not be a friend of Sen's!”

“Of course I'm not!” Kimi broke in. “I don't know anyone named Sen, and I'm certainly not friends with any of YOU people!”

The crowd of bathhouse workers fired up again, but Haku didn't hear them. Sen was here? Chihiro…? How hadn't he known that? Were the kitchen and bath fumes finally clouding his sense of smell?

“Here she is now!” The toad behind Chihiro bellowed excitedly. All attention turned to her. “Do you know that human, Sen?”

 

This was when many things happened at once. Kimi's sharp eyes fell on Chihiro and widened in shock. “CHIHIRO! Chihiro, what are YOU doing here? Where is here? Why do they know you? Why are they calling you `Sen'? You CAN'T be one of them-?! Why…”

But Chihiro heard none of these questions, nor any of the defensive exclamations of the spirits around her. All she could do was watch as Haku's searching gaze met hers. Everything else seemed to go in slow-motion, every other voice muffled. Chihiro was frozen in time, unable and unwilling to look away from Haku, even for a second. Her heart sped up. Her pulse threatened to push out of her body. She wanted to go to him! Every part of her body, every nerve was aching to run up and hug him, to touch him, to tell him how much she missed everything about him…but she couldn't move. She couldn't even breathe.

Haku took a shaking step toward her, his own eyes wide with amazement. “Ch..Chihiro…?”

This was what broke her trance. Chihiro choked back a sob and stumbled forward, closing the short distance between them that seemed like miles. She fell into his arms. Her knees gave out, and she was more thankful than ever for his steady embrace. She buried her face in his shoulder and cried, clinging to him.

Haku held her close, relishing the sensation of being near to her again, the way her head rested on his shoulder, her body fitting perfectly with his. Her scent washed over him, rising above the smells of the kitchen. He'd never really minded the smell of humans. In fact, he liked Chihiro's scent. He couldn't understand why the other spirits detested it so.

Chihiro sniffled, hurriedly wiping her face on her sleeve. “Oh, Ha- I mean, Kohaku…” She hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go yet. “I missed you so much!”

Haku smiled at her. “You can still call me Haku if you want.”

Chihiro shook her head. “No, no, your real name is Kohaku, so I'll call you Kohaku.”

She looked up at him and realized that she only came up to about his eyes. The tip of his nose was at her own eye-level. She giggled, hugging him again. She was so glad to be back!

 

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