Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ The Reign of the Elements ❯ The Anniversary ( Chapter 2 )

Chapter 2: The Anniversary

 

A/N: Hey everyone! So, here's the second chapter…I hope you guys like it. Reviews are appreciated!! Thank you ^_^

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away or any of the characters in it (only the ones I created like Ryuu and Yuki); Spirited Away belongs to Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

“Chi-hee-rooooooooo!” A loud voice woke me up from my dream of Kamaji and his boiler room. He kept on trying to turn me into a soot ball but the spell kept misfiring. Oddest dream ever!

 

“Hai, Ryuu, what's up?” I called.

 

“You're late! It's 6:45!!”

 

Kuso.

 

The blankets were conspiring against me I tell you…they kept tangling around me as I tried to get up. My uniform…where's my uniform? Where did I leave it? Oh! Yes! Hung up in the closet. There it was! Yes!

 

It seemed like the Kamis hated me. Probably because I cheated on that test two weeks ago. My clothing would not go on! The skirt was on backwards and the shirt refused to be tucked in. By the time I stumbled down the stairs it was way past late, it was bordering-on-getting-detention late.

 

“Chihiro,” my mother called from the kitchen, “aren't you going to eat breakfast?”

 

“No!” I yelled as I ran towards the garage. My breath came in great gasps as I slipped into my shoes and barreled out the door.

 

At least my car started. That was the first good thing that happened all day. Now backing out of the garage was another story. The mailbox got in my way and I almost toppled it over in my haste.

 

My eyes kept glancing towards the clock. Could time really go faster when you needed it to slow down?! There is no way that one minute could go by that fast! It really can't be 6:55. I have five minutes to get to school which is ten minutes away. Oh I am so screwed!

 

Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! Kuso! Late! Late! Late! Late!

 

I stepped on the accelerator and roared down the road at more than 60 kilometers per hour. Even at this speed the school seemed to get father and farther away. Oh, if I just had a time stopping power everything would be great!

 

Cars honked at me as my little Toyota raced down the highway. Little old ladies and grumpy business men stared at me infuriated as my car zoomed past them at light speed.

 

“Gomen nasai! Gomen nasai!” I kept thinking like a mantra as the school finally burst into my view.

 

Now: get into the parking space. My car swerved in with a squeal as I literally jumped out of the car while it was still running. My bag pack was slung over my shoulder a minute later as I tripped up the ever lengthening stairs.

 

One step turned into another but no matter how fast I tried to move my homeroom didn't seem to get any closer. The few stragglers zoomed past me but it seemed like they were running and I was going at a snail pace. It seemed like something straight out of a dream.

 

More like a nightmare.

 

“Hey, Chihiro-san!” A voice called out but I didn't even stop running as I shouted back a hello.

 

Glancing at my wrist watch made me groan in misery; the late bell would ring in a minute— less than a minute! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

 

Finally my homeroom appeared and my quivering legs almost sung in joy. Score! The bell rung just as I made it into homeroom. The small, grey haired lady looked up from the computer before sighing and shaking her head.

 

“Almost late, Chihiro-san,” she said mildly as I tottered over to my desk and plunked down, breathing through my nose and trying to catch my breath.

 

The announcements came up but I was already dragging up my bookbag and pulling out my calculus homework that I had forgotten the night before. Kuso! There was no way that I was going to finish three pages worth of problems in…I glanced up at the clock…in twenty minutes.

 

Snatching some paper and scribbling down the first problem, trying to solve it correctly in a few seconds.

 

“Chihiro-chan?” Yuki asked from in front of me.

 

“Not now Yuki-chan, I'm kinda busy.” I muttered as I scratched down another problem.

 

“Oh, okay.” She cleared her throat. I sighed. That was usually her sign that she really needed to tell me something.

 

“What?” I asked. She chewed her lip and leaned in closer.

 

“Akihiro-san was asking about you before homeroom.” She said in that voice she used when she had bad news to say.

 

A twitch formed right above my eyebrow. Akihiro was a bad name in my vocabulary. That jerk was talking about me? Wonder why…

 

“Mmhmm?” I asked, trying to go back to my math problems.

 

“Yeah, he was saying something about talking to you at lunch time…”she trailed off as my eye flashed up to her.

 

“No chance in hell! He dumped me.” I muttered as I tried to concentrate on my math problems.

 

“But-”

 

“No buts,” I interrupted, really not wanting to talk to him, at all. Period.

 

A huge pause enveloped us. I wondered what Yuki's was thinking about…probably about how to bring the conversation up again. Give her two seconds and-

 

“He really misses you.” She murmured. I wasn't going to be able to do the last three problems, just great. Looking up, I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the patience to deal with Yuki.

 

“So what?”

 

“Well, I think you should give him a chance.” She said with an expectant smile. What time does the bell ring? Kuso! I'll have to deal with her for another five minutes.

 

“Well I don't.” Please give up the conversation! Please! Please!

 

“But he's such a good guy!” Of course she'd just keep on going and going and going and going…

 

“Well he can't be that good if he dumped me.”

 

My head suddenly felt really heavy so I rested it on my folded arms.

 

“He only left you because you treated him like your personal pack mule.” I snorted and a couple of students turned to look at me with eyebrows raised.

 

“So I did, but he was just so…so-”

 

“So what?” She persued when I trailed away.

 

“So boring!” I huffed.

 

“Boring! He's super adventurous! How can he be boring?” She stared at me wide eyed. A smile crept across my mouth. Poor Yuki. Didn't understand anything.

 

“He just is…”I murmured turning to look out the window at the shifting leaves of the trees outside, the wind blowing through them.

 

“You have to give me a reason!” She whined.

 

How can I tell her that Akihiro was a bore compared to what I had been through? He can't possibly compare to-

 

The bell rung and I literally fell out of the chair in surprise. My heart beat wildly as I snatched at my books and papers flying around the floor. Where was my math work? Where was it? Hmm…oh! There it was! I grabbed it up and swung my messenger bag on, preparing to make a mad dash to calculus.

 

“Chihiro-chan!” Yuki cried as I ran towards the door. I waved at her, not bothering to look at her, the stress about my imminent doom at the hands of my calculus teacher clouding my mind.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

 

The lunch bell rung. It jolted me awake from the racing thoughts about the History test I had after lunch. The test I was sure to fail.

 

The chairs seemed to groan as the rest of the students rose from their seats and dragged themselves out the door. Everyone had a blank look on their face; gibbering randomly about superficial things, anything to divert brain cells from math related subjects.

 

“Ogino-san!” My teacher called. I snapped to attention turning to look at her.

 

“Yes? Sasaki-sensei?” my voice sounded old, even to me. The calculus teacher frowned at me then looked down at the papers before her, flipping through them.

 

“Where is your homework?”

 

“Ahh…”

 

I trailed off and slipped off my book bag, letting it drop to the floor before pulling it open to dig through the papers. There, between my history and physics book, was my math homework. Pulling it out, I handed it to Sasaki-sensei with a smile. Please don't notice that it's not complete! Please!

 

“What happened to the rest of the problems?” Today was just not my lucky day.

 

“I…I, uh, couldn't finish it.” I said, looking down at the floor. There was silence for a long, long moment before she sighed and shook her head. I peaked up from under my bangs.

 

“Go Ogino-san! Do not turn in incomplete work again!” She huffed. No lecture! Yes!

 

Dang my book bag was heavy! It took a lot of my arm strength just to lift it and it bounced painfully against my back as I sped towards the door.

 

“Arigato Sasaki-sensei!” Now for lunch! Yummy! Wonder what my mom packed? Hope it's some of that sushi from the supermarket.

 

There was my locker, right next to the cafeteria so it was only open the rigged door and slip inside the loud room. Food was only a few seconds away.

 

“Chihiro-chan!” Yuki called from our usual table. My friends turned to wave me over, already bubbling to tell me some gossip or other.

 

“Hi!” I said in general to the table as I plunked down and opened my lunch box.

 

“Oh my god! Chihiro-chan! Have you heard!” Maki said with wide black eyes.

 

“No, I have not heard but can you please tell me!” My mouth pulled into a wide grin as the girl laughed.

 

“Ryuunosuke-kun asked me out! On a date!” She squealed as my eyes popped out of my sockets.

 

“No! Get out! Really?”

 

“Mmhmm! Asked me out after homeroom!” She blushed prettily. Tetsumi leaned in from across the table with a big smirk, her voice dropping an octave.

 

“Speaking of the devil…hi Ryuunosuke-san!” She called. Maki almost broke something by how fast she turned to look at the smiling boy. His surfer style hair added shadows to his already mysterious eyes.

 

“Ryuunosuke!” Maki cried as he pulled up a chair beside her.

 

“Mind if I sit here ladies?” He asked, waiting for our response.

 

“Fine by us!” Yuki said with a smile. I nodded as Tetsumi was busy making embarrassing faces at Maki.

 

“Excuse Tetsumi, she tends to be on the stupid side.” Maki said with a frown in the girl's direction.

 

“Hey!” Tetsumi cried indignantly. We chuckled as the two girls squabbled good naturedly. Well, Ryuunosuke seemed to be enjoying himself, laughing like an idiot over our antics. His eyes drifted over to me and then over my head. A joyous expression spread across his features as he stood.

 

“Hey Akihiro-san!” He said as another guy appeared behind me.

 

Oh no. Just fricking great. I turned to look at the other girls, my face twisting into a grimace. Tetsumi pulled her lips into a line as she tried, courageously, not to laugh. Yuki, on the other hand was busy making sure Akihiro sat by me. That rat! What a traitor!

 

“Can I sit here Chihiro?” He asked softly, his brown gold eyes turning soft as I glanced up at him.

 

“Forgot something?” I muttered as he waited for me to answer.

 

“Um…what?” He asked, his eyes drawing together in confusion.

 

“Never mind, just sit.” I snapped. The table grew silent as Akihiro sat, placing his lunch on the table.

 

“So…Ryuunosuke-san, what are you doing here?” He asked, a smile spreading across his face. Stupid smile. It reminded me a bit to much of-

 

A something flicked against my cheek. What the—?

 

I jumped straight out of the chair as I looked up at a chuckling Yuki and an even redder Tetsumi.

 

“What was that?” I asked.

 

“Wad of paper.” Her voice wavered up and down, trying to imitate innocence.

 

“Better not have had spit in it.” I copied her voice as she stuck her tongue out.

 

“What would you do if it did?”

 

“You'd be dead by sunset.” I threatened with a dead serious face.

 

“Oooo! I'm so scared!” She shuddered, her eyes widening in horror. “Yuki-chan! Save me from the mean, cranky old lady who's going to kill me with her boring jokes!”

 

“Very funny. Very funny!” I said with a huff as the table broke down in giggles.

 

“You're a great actress, Tetsumi-san.” Maki said.

 

“Yeah! You're in the play, right?” Akihiro asked. Tetsumi nodded and affected a pose.

 

“Na-turally, I'm the lead!” She chirped.

 

“Oh brother!” I sighed. My eyes shifted to the right as Tetsumi ignored my comment and kept on posing and impersonating people.

 

Hmm, what to do to distract me from Akihiro…everyone was busy with their own business. Nothing exciting was happening in the cafeteria, only a bunch of kids getting their lunch and chattering with their friends. Their faces blended together into a see of pale skin and black hair.

 

Something stuck out at me as against the usual, something off. I focused in on the anomaly only to find myself watching a single boy, sitting by himself. He had his nose buried in a book and his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. There wasn't anything unusual about him, I saw him by himself all the time, so why did I notice him today? Was it that he got a haircut? Or better yet wash his hair? Nope, it's still long and kinda greasy. His clothes were still the same, dark and nondescript. So why did my eyes focus on him?

 

“That guy is the biggest freak in the world!” Akihiro boasted, crashing through my meditation with an audible boom.

 

“Who?” Annoyance laced my voice as Akihiro looked at me, a happy smile passing across his mouth. The jerk thought he was something just because he got my attention.

 

“That guy you were looking at, Kichiro.” He motioned with his chin at the boy.

 

“Oh and why is he a freak?”

 

“Because, all he does is read about the occult and when you ask him about his books he spews junk about youkai and what have you! He believes in that junk!” Akihiro laughed loudly. His laughed grated against my nerves and it seemed to grate against everyone else's nerves too; they only chuckled slightly as if the laugh was forced.

 

“And would you look at his clothes!” He laughed.

 

That's it, I was not going to take this! I stood and picked up my half eaten lunch. All laughter stopped as they turn to stare at me. Akihiro gulped audibly as my eyes bore holes into his face.

 

“W-what?” He asked.

 

“I'm leaving.” I announced, picking up my book bag.

 

“But I have to talk to you!” He called as I moved to leave.

 

“I don't care.” I huffed as I moved away from the table, feeling oddly hurt at his comments.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Finally, finally I was out of school! It was almost nine and it had taken this long to finish my activities. Why did they have to put a student council meeting and a volleyball practice on the same day? It was absolutely horrible! Between running to student council and then sprinting to volleyball, I was beat. Top that all off with my brutal coach's idea of a `practice' I was glad just to be able to move!

 

Well, at least traffic was light! There was no one out this late on a school day and my little car zoomed down the road, racing to get home. Home! Bed! It almost made me want to cry in joy!

 

Ah! There was the forest! I was almost home free! My heart sped up as I stared at the trees. They seemed to wave at me happily, glad to see me getting home. Funny, the leaves looked an eerie blue color in the moon light. A smile spread across my face as the weird blue color reminded me of Haku and his hair. That beautiful hair of his, those eyes…

 

Haku.

 

Haku, Haku, Haku, HAKU!

 

The Anniversary.

 

My heart froze in my chest as I sped up, hitting 100 mph and passing the turn off to my house.

 

How could I have forgotten the anniversary?! I never forget the anniversary! What was happening here? It felt like a knife was running through me as the guilt ate at my soul.

 

Did this mean I was forgetting about Haku? Would there come a day when he would not occupy my thoughts? The idea made me even more nauseous. Best not think about it.

 

My car burst through the trees, racing past the tiny little houses for the spirits. The branches bent to brush at my car like hands trying to hug me but I had no time for that. My thoughts were only on Haku and the horrible sadness I felt at forgetting him.

 

Dammit! Damn Yuki! Damn Tetsumi! Damn Maki and Ryo and Akihiro! Yes, especially Akihiro for distracting me!

 

The laughing statue appeared suddenly in my view. My foot slammed on the brake, trying to avoid crashing into it. The car groaned to a stop way to slowly. I was going to hit it! No! No! No! I closed my eyes and tensed waiting for the impact.

 

It never came. I peaked, opening one eye at a time and found myself looking at an intact statue, staring at me with crescent eyes. A sigh burst from my throat as I pushed open the door and stepped out focusing on the statue.

 

“Hello, old friend,” I whispered, stepping over until I could run my fingers over the mossy stone. “Have any surprises for me?” The statue just stood their smiling in both directions.

 

All the wind died for a few seconds and there was no movement, no sounds in the deep, deep forest. There was only the statue and I. My eyebrows furrowed as I looked up at the motionless trees. Hmm. That was odd.

 

Then the wind blew through the trees again without warning, shaking the leaves out of their branches. My hair whipped around my face, almost strangling. The air went out of my lungs as I fell from the force of the wind.

 

“What the-?” I shouted as the wind yelled in my ear, screeching like a demented banshee.

 

And then, as suddenly as it came, it stopped.

 

“Stupid wind,” I muttered as I through back my hair, trying to flatten it into place. It worked I guess but I'd need a mirror to be sure.

 

I looked up to check on my car and stopped, any breath I had caught escaping all over again.

 

@@@@@@@@@@@

 

Heh! Heh! You like the cliff hanger, I like it! Please stay tuned for the next chapter!

 

~~Go-chan