Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ The Winds of Fate ❯ At His Side ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away.

 

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Chapter 6

 

At His Side

 

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A soft groan reached Lin's ears and she turned immediately to see Haku's head lolling to one side. She rushed to the dragon's side and immediately dabbed a cool cloth on his forehead. She turned to No Face.

 

“Can you get him a glass of water?” she asked quietly, as not to disturb Boh. No Face gave his unique nod and drifted from the room in search of water for the afflicted dragon. Lin turned back to the river spirit and put a hand to his cheek. It was burning up though he was shivering.

 

He's getting worse.

 

The door opened and Lin looked up, expecting No Face to drift in with the glass of water but instead dropped the rag from her hands in shock. Zeniba walked into the room, followed by her sister and…

 

“Sen!”

 

The human girl, however, only had eyes for the dragon lying in the bed at Lin's side. She swallowed, her eyes going wide in shock at Haku's condition. “Haku,” she whispered, sounding as if she could personally feel the agony he was going through.

 

It was then that Lin noticed how much she had aged since their time together. In eight years, adult spirits did not age noticeably unless they chose to alter their physical appearance, like Haku had. Humans, however, aged considerably in comparison. Sen - no, Chihiro - had aged into a beautiful young woman. She carried herself with a grace she had not had when she was ten.

 

“He's been like this since he was recovered,” Zeniba told Chihiro. The girl's brow crinkled worriedly.

 

“Will he be alright?” Everyone was suddenly unable to speak and Chihiro easily picked up on it. “What?”

 

“We don't know,” Lin said, looking at her old friend. She was so different and yet discernibly the same girl that had come to the bathhouse those years before.

 

Chihiro blinked and looked at Lin as if she had just noticed her presence. “Lin!” she exclaimed, recognition blossoming on her face.

 

The older woman smiled wanly. “He was poisoned. The healers are trying to find a cure but it's like nothing they've ever seen.”

 

“I… I heard him cry out in pain,” Chihiro said quietly, moving to sit at Lin's side to be closer to the dragon. Lin could easily see she still held strong feelings for Haku despite everything that had happened. She blinked. Chihiro wasn't supposed to have any memories of the Spirit World, she realized with a jolt. How could this be possible?

 

“What did you say?” Yubaba asked in a hiss of a whisper, not wanting to disturb Boh, who had continued sleeping through Chihiro's reappearance.

 

“I was asleep back in my world,” the human girl replied slowly as if to remember every detail of her experience. “And in my dream, I was following a silver dragon. I've been having dreams like that since I was ten but could never understand why they seemed so familiar.” She laughed coolly and Lin suppressed a shiver. So she had lost her memories, after all. “Anyway, something attacked the dragon in my and I could tell he was in pain. I wanted nothing more than to help.”

 

She paused and Lin could see the tension in her shoulders. She was trying to be strong and it was hard. “Go on,” Zeniba pressed gently. Chihiro nodded.

 

“Then he called out my name in a plea for help,” she whispered tightly. Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes but she was trying to hold them back. “And then I remembered everything.”

 

The room became tense. No human had ever remembered visiting the Spirit World. Rare as those occurrences were, the ones that reentered the Human World immediately lost all recognition of the Spirit World. But Chihiro was different. Somehow and for some reason, she was different.

 

“So you came back,” Lin prompted and Chihiro nodded.

 

“I don't know what use I could possibly be - I mean, I could have been killed just trying to get back here - but I couldn't just ignore his cry for help,” she said, eyes on Haku.

 

“That is very noble of you, Chihiro,” Zeniba said kindly. “I'm sure Haku will rest more comfortably with you here.”

 

And indeed, the dragon did appear slightly more comfortable with the human girl in the room. Lin didn't know if it was just a coincidence, but somehow doubted it. She knew quite well that as a girl, Chihiro had been infatuated with Haku, but to Lin's surprise, she found he returned the feelings. Perhaps that had been what had broadcasted Haku's call between worlds. It shouldn't be possible, but somehow it had happened. And love had the power to transcend many barriers.

 

At that moment No Face drifted into the room with the glass of water Lin had sent him to get. He drifted over to Lin to hand it to her and stopped when he saw Chihiro.

 

“Hi No Face,” she said quietly with a warm smile for the phantom.

 

“Chihiro has come back to us,” Zeniba added and the spirit seemed to smile despite not being able to express emotions.

 

“Chihiro?” a groggy voice said from the other side of the bed as Boh finally started to wake up with all the voices, even if they had been hushed. His big eyes opened and drifted around the room until they came to rest on the human sitting next to Lin. “Chihiro! Are you really here?”

 

“I really am,” she replied with a fond smile.

 

“Did you come back because of Haku?” he asked.

 

She nodded. “I did.” Lin could tell she was still holding back tears.

 

“Will you stay?”

 

“That's enough,” Yubaba broke in irritably. “Darling, let's get you to your room so you can sleep.”

 

“But I want to stay with Haku and Sen,” he pouted, using Chihiro's name old name from her servitude out of sheer habit.

 

“Get some sleep,” Chihiro said in an attempt to head off any needless fighting. “I'll be here when you wake up.” She smiled.

 

Boh studied her face carefully as if he was afraid she was lying. “Promise?”

 

“Promise.”

 

Boh finally nodded and left the room, followed by his mother. Yubaba stuck her bead back in the doorway. “We're not done here.”

 

Chihiro shook her head. “I imagine not.” With that, Yubaba stormed out. Zeniba took the chair Boh had been occupying and studied the human girl. Chihiro, to her credit, didn't appear too concerned by the way the elderly witch was watching her. Rather, her attention was focused entirely on Haku.

 

“What are those things?” she asked quietly after a few moments. “What kind of creature could to this to him?” Her hands were clenched tightly in her lap.

 

Instead of answering, Zeniba turned to No Face. “Would you be a dear and get Chihiro some tea and a snack? She hasn't had any food from our world yet.” As No Face left, Chihiro checked herself hurriedly to see if she was becoming transparent as humans in Spirit World did without eating anything. She looked relieved to see she was still solid. “Having been to the Spirit World once before gives you some resistance to the adverse effects you came across during your first visit,” the witch explained, “but I'd rather just head off any problems now. Do you agree?”

 

“Yes,” she answered earnestly and Zeniba smiled.

 

“You still love him, don't you?”

 

“I never stopped,” Chihiro replied, watching Haku sleep. “Even when I couldn't remember, I dreamed of him - of all of you - and even though I didn't know who he was, I knee deep down that I loved him.”

 

Lin looked down at the dragon too and felt her heart strings tug. “He never stopped loving you, either.” Chihiro looked at her in surprise. “That was why he aged himself. Deep down, I think he hoped you would return one day.”

 

A tear dripped down Chihiro's cheek as she was unable to hold it back any longer. “I always knew that I was somehow different that everyone else at school and my parents,” she said quietly. “For these last eight years, somewhere inside me, I think I've always known I didn't belong with them. And now I remember why. I feel like I belong here,” she continued, looking at Lin and Zeniba and finally Haku. “I belong with all of you.”

 

“But you're human,” Lin said immediately.

 

“Am I really?”

 

“What do you mean, Chihiro?” Zeniba asked quietly. “Of course you're human.”

 

The girl watched Haku for a few silent moments before speaking again. “I never felt like I belonged anywhere else.”

 

“Everyone has those feelings,” Zeniba said reasonably. “It's universal to all beings.”

 

“This is different,” Chihiro replied, eyes never leaving the dragon's face. “Just the fact that all this time I've known - even if I had forgotten - that another world exists… It's made me feel like I should be doing more or be somewhere else.” She paused. “It's a hard feeling to explain, I guess. It's just something I've instinctively known for a long time.”

 

“You know, it's odd.” Chihiro blinked and looked up at the kind witch. “Of all the humans that have wandered into the Spirit World and returned home, there have been no recorded cases of anyone remembering their time in this world.”

 

“Doesn't that just illustrate my point?” the human girl asked. Lin thought she had a good point. She had been different, even back then. And for her to remember now? It was definitely strange.

 

Zeniba seemed to ponder this until No Face returned for the second time. He placed a tray with a steaming mug of tea and crackers on Chihiro's lap. After nodding her thanks to the phantom, she took a bite of a cracker and immediately all her muscles relaxed. Having food from this realm seemed to agree with her. She supped her tea but said nothing, waiting for Zeniba to speak again.

 

“It's something worth looking into, anyway,” she said. Chihiro nodded, turning back to Haku. Lin thought the witch's response had been pretty anti-climactic considering all the time she had to think about it. Such were the ways of witches, she supposed with a mental sigh.

 

“You never answered my first question,” Chihiro said after a long silence. Lin blinked, having forgotten. “What did this to him?” Zeniba pursed her lips silently and Lin got the impression she hadn't wanted to answer the question, at least yet. Lin met the witch's eye and she shrugged, so took that as the go ahead to answer in Zeniba's stead.

 

“Demons.”

 

Chihiro blinked and looked at Lin in surprise. “Demons? They exist?”

 

Lin chuckled. “After that speech earlier, you would be surprised to learn that?”

 

Chihiro frowned thoughtfully. “I suppose not.”

 

“Good girl,” Zeniba said approvingly.

 

“So, demons are besieging the bathhouse?”

 

“Yes,” Lin replied. “We're doing out best but we've had losses. And Haku's situation hurts.”

 

“But now is not the time to talk of such things,” Zeniba said hastily.

 

“I'm interested,” Chihiro protested.

 

“But you must also be tired,” the witch countered. As if to illustrate the elder woman's point, Chihiro yawned before laughing sheepishly.

 

“I suppose I am. It is the middle of the night, after all.”

 

“We'll get a room ready,” Zeniba said, rising. “Tomorrow we'll talk of demons and everything else to your heart's content.”

 

The human shook her head adamantly. “I want to stay with Haku.”

 

“I suppose you would,” Zeniba said with a shrug.

 

“I've been watching him, Sen,” Lin said. She caught herself using the wrong name too late but the human girl didn't appear bothered. In fact, it was as if she was enjoying that name. Lin shook her head. Humans.

 

“He called out to me,” she protested. “I won't leave him.”

 

Zeniba sighed. “Alright. But I'll bring some pillows and blankets for you.”

 

Chihiro nodded her thanks as the witch left the room. She then turned to Lin. “What about you?”

 

Lin grinned at her old friend. “You may be able to boss a witch around, but I'd like to see you try to get me to leave.”

 

“I wouldn't dream of it.”

 

Lin blinked in surprise. “What?”

 

Chihiro smiled. “I want you to stay. It'll be like old times.” Lin didn't know what to say to that so just hugged the human girl instead. “I didn't realize how much I missed you, Lin.”

 

“I missed you too, Chihiro.”

 

“That's the first time I've head you use my real name.”

 

“I suppose it is,” Lin said thoughtfully.

 

“Thanks,” Chihiro said with a meaningful smile.

 

“I like how it sounds,” Lin replied playfully.

 

“Too bad it's mine.”

 

“Aww.” For the first time since Chihiro's arrival, the two really looked at each other. “You've aged.”

 

“You haven't,” the human countered.

 

And then they both cracked up laughing.

 

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Chihiro watched Haku with a steadfast loyalty as the sun shone into the bedroom. Lin had fallen asleep around sunrise, but Chihiro found that she couldn't sleep. She was content to be able to watch the beautiful dragon and study the features she had fallen in love with those years before. Back then, she hadn't understood the feelings she had for Haku, attributing them to friendship. But the more she dreamt of him, the more she came to realize the truth. And now, here he was.

 

Lin had explained to her that spirits did not age in the human sense. Despite his outward appearance as a young boy those years ago, she had learned he was a powerful elemental spirit with over a millennium under his belt. Spirits like Haku could take any form they wanted though usually ended up favoring one or two specific forms. Haku had taken to the human-like guise he had worn while working for Yubaba - as well as his dragon form - and age it much like a human would in the time they had been apart. And he truly did look about Chihiro's age. He could pass for a high school student easily in the human world… if no one looked too close at him.

 

Chihiro found it an oddly touching gesture for the dragon to attempt to mirror her own age, knowing they would most likely never meet again. And she loved him the more for it.

 

Haku moaned painfully and Chihiro dipped a cloth into cold water - a fresh supply kept up by No Face - and dabbed the dragon's sweaty face with it hoping to ease some of his discomfort. Seeing Haku like this painfully reminded her of finding him bleeding to near death those years ago when she had cured him with medicine from the river spirit she had helped. Unfortunately, there was no easy solution this time.

 

Lin - who was her invaluable source of knowledge of the Spirit World - had also explained that because the poison had been demonically based, the healers of the bathhouse did not have much to base their search for an antidote on as demons had avoided the Spirit World for longer that most living spirits could remember. Chihiro felt a stab of pain in her chest. Haku had called her for help and yet she could do nothing but watch over him. She hated being so useless when he had done so much for her those years before.

 

“Dammit Haku, I'm here. What do you need?” Chihiro whispered tearfully. “I can't bear to see you like this. I need you to come back. Without you here, what good am I? What do I matter? Please…”

 

She took his hand in her own and held it like a lifeline.

 

Though if it was his or hers, she didn't know.

 

It seemed like hours that she had by his side, holding his hand and wishing for nothing but his recovery. She wished it with every fiber of her being because she didn't know what else she could do for him.

 

As the sun reached its zenith in the sky, Chihiro fell asleep, hand never letting go of Haku's.

 

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It was dark where Haku was. And there was so much pain. He felt as though his strength was sliding away like sand in an hourglass. He wondered if that proverbial sand was also linked to his life force. Even his link to his river - what little still existed and was starting to rejuvenate itself with his help - was fading. He could feel the water calling out for him but his strength was ebbing like the tide and he found himself unable to call upon the strength of the water.

 

Was this, he wondered suddenly, what it was like to die? He was so weak and tired and in so much pain. He knew that if he just let go the pain would be forever gone.

 

But something inside him was preventing him from doing just that. It was not the warrior's way to give up like that. A true warrior fought through adversity and made himself stronger for it. A true warrior fought for those around him, fought to protect those precious to him, and would not give up so easily. A true warrior fought for honor; giving up was the greatest dishonor.

 

Haku had always believed in those tenants. And now they were the only things keeping him alive, for he knew instinctively that he was fighting for his life.

 

Was it worth it to keep holding on? He thought of the bathhouse. He thought of Lin and Boh and Zeniba and the others he had come to see as a family. He knew they were in danger. And yet, he had been so easily taken down. Was he really that valuable? Was enduring the pain worth it? Because he had never been in so much continual pain in his long life, he didn't know if it was.

 

He could feel his strength falling away and almost felt comforted.

 

And then he felt something else.

 

There was a strong force trying to bring him from the brink of death - the brink of peace. He was mad at this force for a moment until he felt the sadness and love behind the force. Suddenly the force was not an enemy but a friend. And it felt somehow familiar.

 

The closer the force pushed him to the surface, despite the pain, he started to make out a voice. “Haku… I'm here…” Who is here? And where is here? “I need… come back… without you… please…” And with a jolt he recognized the force that was holding him afloat in the sea of darkness.

 

Consciousness slowly and painfully began to return. First there was pain. He felt sick and weak. Then there was softness under him. A bed? There was light assaulting his closed eyes. Daylight. And then there was pressure on his hand.

 

Carefully, Haku opened his eyes. He blinked a few times against the intruding sunlight before recognizing his bedroom. The others must have recovered him after he had fallen and brought him back to the bathhouse.

 

He could feel bandages wrapped liberally around his body. And under the cloth he ached intensely. From the arrows that had found their mark, no doubt. Looking over to his side he saw Lin in a chair next to the - no, his personal - bed, fast asleep. She must have been watching over him. He looked down and saw a hand that wasn't Lin's entwined in his own and almost passed out again in surprise.

 

Lying on the floor, her hand in his and her head supported by her other arm on the edge of the bed was the source of the force that had brought him back.

 

“Chihiro.”