Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ The Winds of Fate ❯ Rumor ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away. Any perverse bastardations of the canon can be blamed solely on me.

 

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Chapter 2

 

Rumor

 

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Lin looked up as she caught a streak of white in the corner of her eye. Looking out the window, she saw that it was actually a streak of silver as a graceful dragon flew towards the bathhouse. She sighed in relief then blinked at her reaction. Had she really been worried that the dragon wasn't going to come back? Like Sen?

 

Lin's jaw dropped as the last thought popped unbidden into her mind. She had done her best to put the human girl from her mind after she had left all those years ago, justifying the fact that Sen - no, Chihiro was merely a human and didn't belong in their world. But even so, she had felt a bond with the girl and had even considered her a surrogate sister. She had been relieved to hear from Haku that she was alright and was getting along in her human life.

 

Shaking the thought from her head, Lin pushed the door to the boiler room open. Stepping into the hot, enclosed space, she felt a bead of sweat run down her neck but ignored it. Kamaji didn't look up as she entered, though he did hand his bowl from the previous day to her. Lin took it and handed the boiler man a full bowl.

 

“What is it, Lin?” Kamaji asked suddenly.

 

Lin started as she began scattered the colorful candies to the enchanted soot balls. “What are you talking about?”

 

“Something is bothering you,” the elderly spirit pointed out, still focusing on his work even though his helpers were taking a break.

 

Lin shrugged uncomfortably. “It's nothing important.”

 

“It's important enough if it's bothering you like that,” Kamaji said simply.

 

Lin sighed, taking a seat on the wooden platform. The soot balls gathered around her feet, but she paid their bouncing no mind; she was used to them after all. “I've been dreaming about her again.”

 

“About Chihiro?”

 

Lin nodded. “Yes.”

 

“And?”

 

“I'm getting a bad feeling.”

 

“From the dreams or in the air?”

 

Lin looked up at the boiler man, confused. He was looking directly at her. “What?” she asked finally, squirming slightly under Kamaji's intent stare. Even the kindly boiler man could be disconcerting when he wanted to be.

 

“Do your dreams give you a bad feeling or is it something in the waking world that troubles you?” Kamaji asked.

 

Lin wet her lips, not quite sure of her answer. She paused thoughtfully. Where was she really getting the feeling from? She thought about her feelings upon waking up and after a moment, came up with an answer.

 

“It's something in the air,” she said finally. “And I get the feeling that somehow Sen - Chihiro - is involved.”

 

Kamaji nodded as if to himself. “I've also been getting an ominous feel on the air,” he said slowly. “You think our Chihiro may be involved?”

 

Lin shrugged self-consciously. “It's just because of the dreams…” she said, trailing off.

 

Kamaji nodded understandingly. “Have you talked to Haku about this?”

 

Lin blinked. “No, he's been gone.”

 

“But he's back now.”

 

“How did you know?” the brunette asked in surprise.

 

“I felt him arrive,” Kamaji said simply.

 

Lin, not sure what to make of that, said nothing. While she knew there were powerful spirits that could sense the presence of others, she had never taken much interest in it, so was surprised to find out Kamaji could do so.

 

“I think he may want to hear your thoughts,” the boiler man said softly.

 

Lin looked up. Of course the dragon would want to know if something involving Chihiro came up… “I don't know where he is,” she said lamely.

 

“He's speaking with Yubaba, but I imagine you'll find him at the library afterwards.”

 

Lin gave the elderly spirit a strange look but he merely smiled at her.

 

“Go,” he said. “This is the concern for much more able spirits than myself.”

 

Lin shrugged and bade the boiler man farewell, before heading back up to the bathhouse.

 

Library, huh?

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

Haku drifted gracefully into Yubaba's office, transforming to his humanoid form as he landed. The witch looked up at his entrance from her paperwork and silently drew up a chair behind him. The dragon sank into it gratefully. He had been scouting the Spirit World for a week, sleeping and eating very little as the news he had come across had not been good.

 

“Well?” Yubaba asked finally as Haku caught his breath.

 

“There are rumors floating about the south,” Haku replied with the air of one beginning a long recitation.

 

“What kind of rumors?”

 

“Rumors of a gathering darkness.”

 

“And what does that mean?” the witch demanded impatiently.

 

“The rumors are of demons gathering en masse,” the dragon told her grimly.

 

Yubaba seemed to lose a shade of color at this. “Is it true?” she asked weakly.

 

“I heard the rumors all over, but most strongly in the south,” Haku replied. Yubaba's reaction had been about the same as his the first time he had heard the rumor. “And the further south I traveled, the darker and thicker the air became, as if-”

 

“As if there was a large group of demons in one place,” Yubaba finished. “Like a miasma.”

 

Haku nodded. She had taken the words from his mouth.

 

“How long has this been going on?”

 

“A few weeks.”

 

“They could gather a large force in that amount of time,” Yubaba said.

 

“And considering we don't know what kind of numbers the demons have any longer, we could be in trouble,” Haku agreed. The situation looked grimmer and grimmer as he thought about it; and he had done a lot of that during his trip.

 

“Have they made any kind of move yet?”

 

Haku shook his head. “None other than supposedly gathering.”

 

“Does the king know?” Yubaba asked suddenly.

 

“Yes. He seems to be gearing up for war.” Haku paused. “I'm suspicious that he knows more about this if he is already gathering his own forces.”

 

Yubaba nodded absently. “So what can all of this mean? What do they want?”

 

If they even want anyway other than war… Haku thought grimly. “Only time will tell,” he said instead.

 

“Unfortunately, I think you're right,” the witch said with a sigh.

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

Haku walked down the halls of the bathhouse to the library lost in thought. There was something going on here; something major. Thus, the dragon felt the need to look up the events of the Demon Wars.

 

He had been alive during the Wars, but had largely remained out of the conflict to stay with his river. There were those that dwelt along his river so he had tried to protect them when the effects of the war had trickled down to his area; but otherwise, he had kept neutral. At that point in his life, he hadn't been interested in much that went on in the worlds unless it involved his river.

 

It was much the same with most elemental spirits; usually they were only concerned with the bits of nature that they were a part of - their rivers, forests, mountains, and so on. Only when he had lost his connection to his river had Haku turned to the rest of the Spirit World, for that was all he could sense.

 

Haku started when he noticed Lin waiting outside the library doors.

 

“What are you doing here, Lin?” the dragon asked in surprise.

 

“Waiting for you,” she replied evenly.

 

“How did you know I was back? And coming here?”

 

“I saw you fly in,” she replied with a shrug. “As for meeting you here, Kamaji told me I would find you here.”

 

Haku blinked. “Kamaji did?”

 

Lin nodded in confirmation. Haku made a mental note to talk to the boiler man later.

 

“So why were you waiting for me?”

 

“To ask how your trip went.”

 

“Is that all?”

 

“Maybe.”

 

“Lin…”

 

The brunette sighed and opened one of the large library doors and beckoned the dragon to follow her. Curious, Haku did as he was bidden and followed her to a secluded corner of the library where they would not be overheard - not that many used the library anyway. There was usually too much work to be done for the average spirit employed in the bathhouse to have much time to spend in the library. Haku and Lin took seats opposite each other at a table.

 

“So, where did you go?” Lin asked without preamble.

 

“What did you really want to talk about?” Haku countered.

 

“I think it relates,” Lin retorted. “Something is going on. I can feel it. Is that why you left?”

 

Haku nodded after a moment. “It is.”

 

“So what is going on?” she asked bluntly.

 

The dragon paused a moment, not sure whether he should relate the news to Lin. But, he decided, he could trust her. She was one of relatively few in the bathhouse that he could say that about with any conviction. Since Chihiro - Haku felt a slight pang at the thought of her - had been there, she had bridged a gap between the two spirits. There was no point in hiding it from her anyway. She was, after all, a valuable ally and would find out eventually.

 

“Rumor has it that the demons are gathering again,” he said at last.

 

Lin gasped. “What?”

 

“And after my trip, I'm inclined to think they are. The king is even gathering his army.”

 

“Then this must be serious,” Lin said worriedly. “What do they want?”

 

“No one knows. All they've done thus far us begin to gather,” Haku replied wearily.

 

“So you came to look up the Demon Wars, I assume,” Lin said.

 

Haku nodded.

 

“Weren't you alive then?” the brunette asked tactlessly.

 

Haku smiled slightly. “Yes, but I stayed out of the conflict. Back then all I cared about was my river and those subsisting off it,” he replied with a shrug.

 

“But that's changed,” Lin observed.

 

“Yes.”

 

“What do you want me to do then?”

 

“What?” the river spirit asked in surprise.

 

“How can I help?” Lin repeated.

 

Haku paused. “I suppose you can help me with research.”

 

Lin nodded and made to stand, but Haku grabbed her wrist, halting her. She looked at him.

 

“What?” she demanded.

 

“What was it that you wanted to talk about?”

 

Lin blinked. “It's not important,” she mumbled.

 

“Liar.”

 

The brunette looked up and met Haku's determined eyes. She sighed and slumped back into her chair as if she were being punished. This only heightened the dragon's curiosity over what all this was about.

 

“I… I've been dreaming about Sen lately,” she said finally.

 

Haku felt as if he had been slapped in the face. Chihiro… “I have too,” he whispered.

 

Lin looked up in surprise, eyes searching Haku's face to see if he were leading her on. When it seemed she decided he wasn't, she sighed in relief. “Then I'm not going crazy.”

 

“You said you thought it might be related to my trip,” Haku said slowly.

 

Lin pursed her lips a moment. “Well, what if the Human Realm is in danger?” she asked finally. “That would mean Sen is too.”

 

“The demons did want to take over the human presence in the world the first time,” Haku said, thoughts whirling.

 

“You think they have the same goal now?”

 

“It's possible… They've been exiled for years.” Haku paused. “But then again, maybe all they want is a good war.”

 

Haku and Lin looked at each other.

 

“This can't be good.”

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

The next few weeks saw Haku and Lin spending good portions of their non-working hours in the library. The more Haku learned of the Demon Wars, the more concerned he became over the current situation. Haku considering himself well-learned when it came to the history of the world and he knew more than many spirits did about the Demon Wars even though he had stayed out of the conflict as much as possible; but there were many intricacies about the war that he had not been aware of. And that gave him cause to worry.

 

One morning after all the other spirits had retired - except for perhaps Yubaba as the witch set her own hours - Haku and Lin were sitting at a table with books and parchment scattered in front of them. Lin sighed and closed the book she had been skimming through and dropped it onto the table with a thud. Haku started and looked up at her quizzically. The brunette slumped in her chair with a yawn.

 

“That's it,” she declared. “That is every book in this library that even mentions something vaguely related to the Demon Wars. I don't think there is any more to learn. Not here anyway.”

 

Haku put down the book he had been reading. There had been very little connection to the Demon Wars within its pages; that had been the case with the brunt of their research for the last couple of days.

 

“I think you're right.”

 

Lin blinked. “Really?”

 

Haku allowed himself a tired smile at this. “Yes. This is only going to get us so far anyway. We haven't learned much new in the last few days anyway. And I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of being cooped up in this library when everyone else is sleeping.”

 

At that moment Lin yawned again and grinned sheepishly.

 

“Point taken,” Haku chuckled. “Let's call it quits for now.”

 

“I suppose all we can do now is wait and see what happens,” the brunette spirit said, stretching her arms over her head.

 

The dragon nodded. “I may do a check of the armory just to be safe.”

 

Lin shrugged. “Well, I think I'll head for bed.”

 

Haku nodded and watched her leave. He sat in his seat a moment before stacking the books and parchment for whatever spirit was assigned to look after the library.

 

He paused the corner of a decaying piece of parchment sticking out from under one of the discarded books caught his eye. Carefully he pulled it from the pile and smoothed it out and studied it. It was written in runes he didn't understand. Looking at it more closely, he realized it was written in demonic runes.

 

Sitting back down studying the parchment, the dragon frowned thoughtfully. If he remember correctly, demons had originally used the same alphabet as other spirits and humans, but when the Demon Wars had begin, they had wanted to keep their messages from being intercepted by unfriendly eyes and had thus created a code system that had stuck after the war had ended centuries later. It had probably been because the war had lasted so long that the code had remained as the alphabet as that was all the newer generations knew how to read.

 

Curious as to what was on this old piece of parchment, Haku studied the runs intently. After a few moments, he rose and walked over to one of the shelves and scanned the titles until he found the tome he was looking for: A Study of Demonic Runes. Haku grabbed the book and the parchment and headed for his study.

 

*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*/*

 

In the next weeks, Chihiro was sure she was dreaming almost on a nightly basis, which was unusual. Before now, the dreams had always come sporadically. Of course, she could never be sure of this as she could never specifically remember the dreams, but the effects of the dreams were always the same: a longing to know, a nagging familiarity, and a strange sense of peace. And she had been experiencing them constantly in the last few weeks. What it meant, she had no idea. So, trying not to worry about it, she had done her best to push the thoughts from her mind.

 

Other than that, Chihiro's life had remained pretty routine. She continued to take her morning runs to the statue, go to school, work on her homework, hang out with her friends and family, and keep up with her chores. It had been so routine that it had become almost boring. Chihiro was just itching for something to happen.

 

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