10DISCLAIMER: The storyline of Spirited Away is not owned by me - it is the property of Hayao Miyazaki and should be respected as such. Equally all characters belong to Miyazaki, unless expressly stated by me at the beginning of the chapter. Enjoy!
Reviews, criticisms and ideas for development are greatly wanted and greatly appreciated - help me make this story the best it can be!
Chihiro was speechless. She stood, mortified, for several moments, blinking hard as if all that was before her would disappear if she tried hard enough. Had she really heard all that Haku had said correctly? So many questions bristled at the edges of her lips, yet she hadn't the faintest idea what to ask first. Resting her eyes on Haku once more, she began her ruthless questioning.
"Where's Yubaba? Or Zeniba?" she began with. "Surely with their power and yours combined, Haku..."
"No." he said harshly. "No, Chihiro, they can't help reopen the gateway between Worlds. They have their own problems to face. Both of them are renowned as two of the greatest and most powerful witches in the this World, and therefore, as is to be expected, both are off fighting the Rogues, in what seems to be a futile attempt to restore peace. For now, all they are doing is biding us time. Biding us time until we figure out how to initiate some sort of makeshift government to regain order for a while, until you..." he stopped. "Lin, I think Chihiro has probably had enough for one night. Can you take her upstairs for me? She will be bunking with you."
"Almost like old times," Lin laughed sarcastically, as she made a move towards Chihiro.
"No! No, Haku, you can't leave me like this!" Chihiro started shrilly. "I need to know more! I demand to know more before you just cast me aside like this!"
There was something about her wide, panicked eyes that softened the now-hardened Haku for a moment. "Alright. Please, continue asking your questions. If I can answer them to the best of my ability, will you then please go to bed?" he looked at her imploringly.
"Why me?" she asked flatly, ignoring Haku's previous request. "Why did you trap me here, Haku? I saved you once - are you under the impression I am able to do it again? As several Spirits mentioned the last time I was here," Chihiro shot a glance at Chichiyaku at this point, "I am just a Human."
"It is precisely this fact that led me to bringing you here. You are a Human, and a Human is exactly what we are in need of. This is a desperate time for this World Chihiro - bit by bit, we are destroying ourselves. Now that you are here, and not under any contract or spell of any kind like the one Yubaba had over you, there are certain things that we can give to you, show you and permit you to do, things that none of us are able to do ourselves. Certain Spirits have certain abilities to bestow power, but there are, again, rules to how this works. These rules cannot be phsysically broken. Namely, this gift of power cannot be bestowed upon the giver, or upon any other Spirit as such. Humans do not frequent the Spirit World often - Chihiro, you are the first and last Human to visit here for many hundreds of years, who has not been turned into a pig by Yubaba or another such creature by a different witch.
In terms of the situation we have at the moment, and have been battling with for two years now, a non-Spirit Receiver is ultimately our last option. We need you, Chihiro, and we need you namely to say yes. That is another of the rules that had to be abided by when bestowing power - the recepient must voice his or her agreement. The remaining Spirits here who have not died or gone Rogue, as a previously stated, must figure out how to initiate some sort of makeshift government to regain order for a while, whilst you, Chihiro, find Them. The Ones who run the higher order, the Ones who have disappeared."
"I thought you said nobody has ever seen Them before?" Chihiro faltered.
"That is, regrettably, true. I never said this would be easy, Chihiro. But we need to try. I will give you the day to sleep on it. Please, consider this proposal, for all our sakes. Lin, now please."
Without another word from either party, Lin gingerly approached Chihiro and took her gently by the arm, leading her from the room, past the long-broken elevator and towards a long, winding staircase.
"I didn't want to bring you here, you know." Lin started, looking sideways at Chihiro. "I knew you wouldn't want to be here. It's unfair, I know it is, plucking you from your own World. Heck, I'd hate it, and all the responsibility that comes with it. It's huge! I mean, if you agree and fail..." Lin saw the look on Chihiro's face. "I'm not helping, am I? I'm sorry Sen...I mean, Chihiro. We're all pretty stressed out at the moment, as you can probably tell, and Haku...well, Haku's changed a bit. Seeing what he's seen when he's been out helping Yubaba and Zeniba fight, well, it's expected I suppose. Now that you are here though, you will think about it, won't you? Won't you?"
Chihiro awoke after only a few hours to cold sunlight. Lin and some of the other girls were still sleeping around her, blissfully unaware for a few more hours of the horrors their World was being subject to. Opening the sliding doors of the room, Chihiro stepped silently out onto the balcony. Slipping her legs through the bars of the barrier, she looked out over the ocean.
In daylight, Chihiro could now see that the vast expanse of water, which was once so clear you could see the bottom, was cloudy, and covered by a thin layer of oily film on its surface. The water was still, eerily so, the absence of waves or ripples creating a disturbing effect. Looking out further, Chihiro could make out the train station, where herself, No-face, Boh and Yubird caught a train to Swamp Bottom to see Zeniba 8 years ago.
"The trains don't come anymore, as I'm sure you've guessed." A voice behind Chihiro made her jump. Lin had woken up too, and took a seat beside her old friend. "So much for getting a train ticket out of here," she chuckled gloomily.
"Lin, what powers are everyone talking about? And why does Haku have so much faith in me? I barely saved Haku, myself and my own parents last time - how am I supposed to save the entire Spirit World?!"
"Look, Se-Chihiro, I'm pretty much as clueless as you when it comes down to the details. All I know is, you've gotta tell Haku something tonight, and I'm pretty sure he won't be telling you too much about these gifts of power unless you say yes. From what I've heard...the giving of the "gift" isn't the most pleasant of experiences, and I'm pretty sure he won't want to scare you off before giving you the chance to agree."
Chihiro silently looked out once more across the ocean. Water stretched as far as the eye could see, and, despite the dirt and despair that hung think in the air, the scene was still beautiful. There was something ethereal about the Spirit World, a feeling that you just didn't get back home in the Human World. No matter what was thrown at it, the place was always incredibly divine, Chihiro had to give it that. She had forgotten, in the midst of all her negative memories of the place, just how extraordinary it really was here. Shooting Lin a half-smile, Chihiro got up once more, turned her back on the scene, and headed back inside to bed.
When she next awoke, night had fallen. Chihiro opened her eyes, half-hoping that she would awake in her room at home to find that all that had happened the night before had been a very vivid, horrible nightmare. But alas, she was faced with the four wooden walls of her sleeping chamber at Yubaba's bath house, as well as a decision she would do anything not to have to make. The other girls in the room seemed to have disppeared - Chihiro assumed they'd gone downstairs to eat something. On her right side, she noticed that Lin had left her some clothes, similar to the pink work uniform she had had the last time she was here. Smiling at the irony of it all, she pulled on the clothes and headed downstairs.
Upon reaching the bottom floor of the bath house, Chihiro was greeted by the remaining worker of the bath house, all seated around a long, wooden table, Boh once again in his corner. At each place, a steaming bowl of white rice had been placed, a glass of dubious-looking water on its side. Haku was nowhere to be seen.
"Over here, Chihiro!" Lin patted the chair next to her. Chihiro took her seat, and scooped a small mouthful of rice into her mouth with her chopsticks. To her surprise, she was ravenous. After very quickly finishing her bowl and downing its contents with the water, Chihiro addressed Lin.
"Where's Haku?"
"Oh, Haku's out patrolling," Lin responded. "He goes out every night before breakfast and makes a few rounds of the perimeters in dragon-form to ensure no Rogues are anywhere nearby. He's meticulous, that boy - ever since the attack on the bath house, he has never failed to make a daily round. Speaking of the devil..." Heads turned as Haku entered the breakfast room. Without a word, he took his seat at the head of the table and began to eat, eyes fixed on Chihiro all the while. Pleading, guilt-installing eyes. Just as everybody had begun to resume their normal convensations, Haku finally spoke.
"Chihiro."
"Yes, Haku?"
"Have you reached your decision?"
"I...I think I have."
All eyes and ears were tuned in towards Chihiro expectantly. She gulped once, and, after what seemed like an age, stood up at her place.
"Yes. My decision is yes."
