A/N: here's yet another chapty-wapty! And dude, Chihiro's dreams... ya
know, she was just thrown into this world, her parents are pigs, hello-o,
are any of you comprehending this here? She is so, like, terrified right
now - admit it, you would be too - and her terrifiedness includes Haku. The
Dreams also have another purpose, too, ya? ya. and I'm thinking about
making this AU even more AU-y. coz Chihiro is only ten, right? Right. Then
what's the whole romance point, eh? She should be thirteen at the least. Or
twelve. Or fourteen. Ya? Ya know? Anyhoot, I'm certain all you dudes and
dudettes agree with me. THEREFORE I want you to tell me if the AU thing (I
mean, the even MORE AU part about her age) is good idea, yes? And tell me
which age. Because I can't just announce that Chihiro is automatically this
many years older, right? I mean, I can, but you know... either way, she's
going to be spending Some Time there, in the Spirit World, her parents,
yadda, yadda, yadda, ya? ya. so YOU tell me THREE things when you review,
and DON'T FORGET!!!
A) should I just automatically announce Chihiro is this many years older, or should I have her stay there at the Bathhouse until she is a certain age?
B) What age should she be? Not, you know, like thirty, twenty, etc., because I'm not sure if pigs are, you know, live that long.
C) I'm just curious - what do you think Chihiro has? Illness? Nerves? What? WHAT??!? ~_^ I want to know what my readers are thinking! Originally, I was gonna have her have a moderate fever in the first place, but her parents gave her some medication to push it down before they left, then Haku food-poisoned her (by accident!!) and she's scared beyond all belief.... But what do YOU think? *skips off singing*
Disclaimer: no own.
Three POV
Not necessarily RIGHT after the last chapter... More like, say, around twenty minutes later. Haku has delivered his "thing" or whatever it was he got to his employer (a.k.a. Yubaba) and, for those of you that are curious, it was a whole lotta money! Wee! Okay. And don't you just love his little old fashioned carrier bag thing? I think he would just look so cute with it on! I drawed a fanart, but all of my drawings of Haku look like Ken from Digimon for some reason... *sweatdrop*
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"Not bad," Yubaba said, after inspecting the contents of the bag he had given her. "You've done exceptionally well this time, Little Dragon-Boy." She frowned at him across her desk, standing slightly rigid with that little messenger bag strapped across his chest. He gripped the strap tightly with one white-knuckled sweating hand.
"But there's something up with you, Boy. Tell me, what is it?"
"Nothing," Haku said defensively, then immediately cursed himself. So far he had managed to avoid talking to her other than a quiet nod or two and when speaking in a louder, somewhat clearer voice, he knew - knew! - that she knew something was wrong.
"I don't believe that," she told him carefully, stating the obvious as she narrowed her eyes at him from across the desk. "Tell me the truth, now, before I force it out of you."
"... That was the truth. Nothing is wrong with me." His voice shook, and it sounded rather weaker than the fore "nothing" had. He was struggling slightly to breathe - he had inhaled too much of the fumes. He cursed himself again. Why hadn't Chihiro been asleep when he had walked in? why had he started burning the leaves immediately? And where was he going to sleep? The leaves needed to be burning or at least smoldering all night long.
He had been counting on Yubaba to give him an all-nighter job.
Instead, she just leaned forward and her eyes were now dangerous slits. She lifted a hand, once more opening her eyes fully. She smiled sickly sweet at him.
"So be it, Little Dragon Boy," she said. "I'll have to force it out of you. how long can you last against my spell, I wonder? Last time it was a record- breaking thirty-five minutes." She opened her palm wide, facing him, and he tensed every muscle, trying to throw up a shield of some time to stop her attack.
He did, but not in time. So instead of repelling her spell away from him, he trapped it inside. Immediately, every little thing she had taught him rushed through his mind, and he bit both lips, knowing what it was; a truth spell. It'd make him tell her whatever she wanted. The only upsides were that he was naturally good at fighting it and that she could only ask one question, then the spell would wear away.
He shut his eyes, and when he opened them again he was on his knees, shaking, both hands gripping thr front strap of his carrier-bag, and he just gave up. He was wasting too much energy.
"I inhaled some poisonous fumes," he blurted out, "that are supposed to help the Human."
The spell wore off. He gasped in relief, falling forward onto the floor, palms sweating so hard he almost slipped and landed face-first on the carpet.
"The Human?" his employer asked, momentarily confused. "Oh, yeah, that one; I remember. What, is she sick?"
"Yes, Yubaba-sama."
"You're supposed to be taking care of her."
"I think she was a little ill before she got here, and the food in this world only made it worse."
"What are her symptoms?"
Haku pushed himself up, still shaking slightly. "Dizziness, headaches, stomach pains, tense muscles, sweating heavily, clammy skin other than her face, high fever, flushed cheeks and forehead," he ticked them off, lifting his chin and staring at the ceiling slightly, as though all the answers to the world could be found there. "Hoarse voice... she thinks she has some sort of human virus called Influenza or something of that sort. I'm not so sure." He wasn't about to outright admit he had no idea what to do.
Yubaba frowned at him.
He frowned right back, still breathing somewhat heavily.
"You must remember how very frail Humans are, especially their children," she chided softly. Dangerously.
He ran all possibly sarcastic and smart-remarks through his head, each one sure to get him in more than just a little bit of trouble.
Haku decided not to answer.
Yubaba, of course, took this as impudence.
"Well, now you're stuck with her, so I suggest you get someway to keep yourself from breathing in those fumes, and don't let them all over the bathhouse. Sen has a contract, signed, and if she doesn't keep with it..."
"... I'll be responsible," he finished lamely. "I know."
"Yes. And have you considered what punishments you'll get? Ill, injured, or dead even, you'll have to live them out?"
He bit back a not only ironic but sarcastic comment to that one. "No, I have not, Yubaba-sama."
She leaned forward. "I suggest you cure your little human, Little Dragon Boy, soon - very, very soon."
He fought a shudder. "Hai, Yubaba-sama."
"Good. Now, I want you to supervise the bathhouse for the rest of today, got that? I'll send what's-his-name down to take over when it starts to get dark."
"......... Hai, Yubaba-sama."
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When Chihiro woke up again, she gasped, hands flying to her chest. It felt as though it were constricting, caving in on itself, trying to pull apart, stretching, squishing up against her ribs, painfully, painfully... She gasped again, a small "Gyah!" and then an even tinier "Help!" along with her breathy response to the growing pain in her chest. Her throat was hoarse. She turned her head and saw the leaves had all burned out. Unconsciously, she reached out to the still burning candle, and managed to force her quaking hand to nudge a leave into the flame. She watched it as she felt her air passageways begin closing.
Tears streaked down her face.
She closed her eyes, praying it would be over soon.
It wasn't.
She began to breathe easier, after what felt like forever, and opened her eyes again. Seeing the leaf half-burned, she immediately sat straight up and grabbed a few more leaves, putting them on the candle as well. Then, seeing as the candle was so small and smothering as well, she grabbed a new one and lit it.
Proud of herself, she looked over her handiwork.
Then promptly gave a muffled scream and collapsed on the pillow, first clutching her head, digging fingernails into skin as the pain threatened her very life it seemed. More tears cascaded down her face, and she let out a few choked sobs. Finally, it was once more a simple thud thudding rhythmically in her temples, then - as though it had been waiting for her headache to come and then relieve itself slightly - her stomach slammed against her skin, it felt like, wanting to tear itself apart.
She didn't notice the door open, or the tiny gasp, until it felt as though the pain all over her body had finally subsided. Slowly, she tipped her head up on the sweat-soaked pillow and stared, trying to focus her eyes. Rin sat next to her, frowning worriedly, rubbing her shoulder. A tight cloth was around her nose and mouth. It took Chihiro a moment to figure out why.
The leaves. Haku had said they were poisonous.
"What?" she croaked, but Rin shushed her.
"It's okay, Sen-san. I'm here, don't worry."
"But you have to get out, you'll be poisoned!"
"That's what I have this cloth on for, right? Haku warned me about these fumes. I came to visit you and make sure he isn't making your life worse."
"My relationship with Haku-sama is rather stretched, if that's what you mean. He hasn't really done anything bad to me." Chihiro flexed her shoulder muscles slightly. "I hurt all over. I want Okaasan and Otousan."
"I'm sorry, Sen," Rin told her sympathetically.
Chihiro ended up falling asleep again under Rin's watchful gaze and comforting presence.
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When she woke up again, it was dark... late into the night. It took her a moment to figure out why she had woken up...
"Gyahrragh!" she hissed through her teeth, curling into a tight ball, arms clutching her chest, her heart and lungs both trying to rip themselves apart, pushing painfully against each other, almost breaking her ribcage, constricting, out, in, pain, painfully, couldn't breathe... then her entire muscle structure, it seemed, tightened up, and she twitched slightly with each painful beat of her struggling heart. Being able to focus on only one aspect of pain, she didn't necessarily notice the shards of white hot pain slamming into and out of her diaphragm, and she was currently unable to throw up, which was what her stomach wanted to do.
It seemed to last forever, and there must have been an entire river constructed from her tears by now. She found herself wishing, hoping almost, for death, or unconsciousness, anything, anything to escape this pain...
Something wasn't letting her though. An intense hotness in her mouth, on her tongue.
She swallowed reflexively.
The first to fade was the pain in her heart, lungs, neck, chest. They were soon a simple thumping of soreness. Her muscles relaxed somewhat (that lactose acid would cause cramps for sure) and the thudding in her temples became known at last. She gripped her head tightly, nails digging into her own flesh, until the thumping in her brain also became a sore thud, simple. She clutched her stomach momentarily, thanking everything and all that the sharp stinging pain she felt there only lasted a second, then she gasped, groaned, rolled over, came halfway off the bed, and threw up.
The thudding in her head did not stop. The aching of her stomach - upper and lower - did not stop. Her muscles were extremely sore. She was shaking as though she had hypothermia. Tears still leaked from her eyes. She could literally feel each slow, hard, and deliberate thump of her heart, which also ached considerably. Her lungs burned, as did her throat, struggling to access oxygen soon enough.
She just lay where she was for a while that seemed like forever, the only other thing other than the pain and aching and soreness in her body that she could access was a strange ringing in her ears. She shook terribly, racking her small, thin frame. She was drenched in sweat. Her eyes hurt, all of the muscles in her face hurt, and any part of her that wasn't completely soaked in sweat was soaked in tears. Chihiro couldn't tell if they were still streaking down her cheeks or not.
Eventually, the aching began to slow, and the pain evaporated, being replaced by even harder shivers and a huge feeling of numbness. Dizziness took over, and when she fell back gently, slowly, on her back on the bed, it felt as though she was spinning out of control, falling into the sky. the room, or what she could see in the dark out of her blurred eyes, was warping and twisting around.
Finally, blissful unconsciousness took over.
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She woke up from yet another nightmare. Yet this one, she couldn't remember for some reason.
The light feeling of those burning leaves left her feeling much better, but she was well aware of how much she needed a bath. She tried not to think about last night. Instead, she blinked, and tensed then relaxed each muscle, testing her body. She was extremely sore all over, but that seemed to be it.
Even her head had lessened to an almost ignorable ache. Dull. She blinked her eyes, and waited patiently for her vision to clear. when it finally did, she tensed first, then relaxed slightly.
She was on her back, tangled up in the sheets, head tipped slightly to the side. a cool, wet cloth was on her forehead, and she appreciated it greatly. There weren't any leaves burning.
Haku was sprawled next to her, head buried in arms.
That was the reason she had tensed up.
He looked to be unconscious.
That was the reason she had relaxed.
Sun shown through, and she closed her eyes.
When Chihiro felt better then she had before in quite a while, she slowly sat up, caressing her temples. They thudded stronger now, but that was it. not even her stomach ache bothered her.
Carefully, she got up and slipped over Haku, standing up on the floor (which was clean, she noticed) and holding the side of the bed for support. She almost collapsed; her muscles were very weak.
Weaker than she had expected. Her movements woke Haku up.
"Feeling better?" he asked, sitting up - Chihiro couldn't help but notice that he seemed cute, almost childish even, sitting like that, hair all messed up.
THEN she noticed something else: Haku didn't look too good.
"I'm a little weak," Chihiro said softly, voice hoarse.
"That's good," Haku said. "I was afraid you might not have woken up last night."
"Eh? Do you know what happened?"
"Developed a dependency on the leaves - it happened so fast. Way too fast, seriously. I figured you wouldn't start physically relying on them for a few weeks, but in just a few hours, apparently..." he trailed off for a moment. "When you weren't breathing the fumes anymore, your body seized up, because of chemical response - it'd be like having your lungs pulled out. I'll admit you scared me; not really, but enough to keep me from thinking straight, and I gave you a leaf, had you eat it." he paused again. "It should have killed you. Looks like you've pulled through, though."
Chihiro fell (not literally) away into thought, mulling over things. A chemical reaction? Like, she had been addicted to the leaves? Eew. That burning on her tongue... that must have been the leaf he made her eat. And Chihiro was well-aware that one like Haku would have to be PRETTY freaked out to stop thinking straight. She stared as hard as she could into his olive-green eyes, trying to figure it out.
"Haku-sama," a male voice called. "Yubaba wants to see you."
"Hai," Haku called back, almost literally stumbling to his feet and running a hand through his hair. "Stay here," he ordered, and Chihiro decided on three things; one, Haku looked extremely tired; two, Haku looked like he was hot and uncomfortable; three, there was a slight flush on his rather abnormally pale cheeks. He danced around for a minute, throwing a blue long- sleeved shirt on and the white one over it. he tied a sash quickly, and headed towards the door, running a hand through his hair again, except more to straighten it out this time.
"W- wait! When are you coming back? I feel better!"
Too late. he was already gone.
Chihiro sat there for a while before laying back down on the bed. She managed to sleep off and on for a little while, but was wide-awake by the time noon rolled around. Or, the sun shone brightly through the window. "I want to see Okaasan and Otousan," she said to herself softly, exercising her voice.
Right then, there was a light knock on the door, and Rin entered.
"Rin-san!" Chihiro cried, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. She got to her feet, stumbled, and managed to make it over to Rin before Rin could make it to her.
"Sen! You're okay...? Maybe you should lay down. I guess Haku wasn't lieing." She ushered Chihiro back to the bed and made her sit down at least.
"What'd he tell you?"
"That you were feeling better, and if I could feed you for him. He looked like he was in a hurry - I wonder what he was doing that was so important? But what's in the main focus now is you." Rin smiled, sitting next to her. She felt her forehead. "You still have a fever," she announced, "but you must be hungry too."
"I am!" Chihiro cried immediately. She redid her ponytail. She thought a moment. "Anou, Rin-san? Do you have any human food here?"
"I don't know..." Rin frowned lightly. "What does human food look like? Maybe we do."
"Well, some human food, like dumplings, and rice balls, and sushi, then there's other kinds of human food, like mien chow, or pasta, salad, it's a lot like the stuff here, except different I think." Her throat began to hurt. She clammed up.
"Oh." Rin brightened up. "We have plenty of that stuff here. Like the dumplings and rice balls? Will some of those work? I think I can get you whatever you want since I'm acting on-" Rin wrinkled her nose "-------Haku- sama's orders."
"They might work. I'd like to see them first, though, if that's okay."
"Duh." Rin grinned again. "You just lay here, I'll be right back." She stood up and began making her way to the door.
"Rin-san!" Chihiro called. "Wait! Wait, what am I going to do, I mean, how long will you be gone?"
"Not long," Rin said distractedly, and closed the door behind her. Chihiro listened to her footsteps fade away, then sighed and felt her forehead. "I don't think I have a fever," she muttered, more to herself. Either way, she laid down again.
True to her word, Rin didn't take very long. If an hour or so wasn't considered long. She said something about uncooperative idiots, but all the same Chihiro began to feel better after some rice balls and a lot of water. Rin said she was dehydrated.
Chihiro ended up falling asleep again, Rin's comforting voice guiding her to the realm of dreams.
Her dreams weren't so comforting.
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A/N: see? I made that chapter long. *sighs* I'm sorry it took so long to get out.
A) should I just automatically announce Chihiro is this many years older, or should I have her stay there at the Bathhouse until she is a certain age?
B) What age should she be? Not, you know, like thirty, twenty, etc., because I'm not sure if pigs are, you know, live that long.
C) I'm just curious - what do you think Chihiro has? Illness? Nerves? What? WHAT??!? ~_^ I want to know what my readers are thinking! Originally, I was gonna have her have a moderate fever in the first place, but her parents gave her some medication to push it down before they left, then Haku food-poisoned her (by accident!!) and she's scared beyond all belief.... But what do YOU think? *skips off singing*
Disclaimer: no own.
Three POV
Not necessarily RIGHT after the last chapter... More like, say, around twenty minutes later. Haku has delivered his "thing" or whatever it was he got to his employer (a.k.a. Yubaba) and, for those of you that are curious, it was a whole lotta money! Wee! Okay. And don't you just love his little old fashioned carrier bag thing? I think he would just look so cute with it on! I drawed a fanart, but all of my drawings of Haku look like Ken from Digimon for some reason... *sweatdrop*
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"Not bad," Yubaba said, after inspecting the contents of the bag he had given her. "You've done exceptionally well this time, Little Dragon-Boy." She frowned at him across her desk, standing slightly rigid with that little messenger bag strapped across his chest. He gripped the strap tightly with one white-knuckled sweating hand.
"But there's something up with you, Boy. Tell me, what is it?"
"Nothing," Haku said defensively, then immediately cursed himself. So far he had managed to avoid talking to her other than a quiet nod or two and when speaking in a louder, somewhat clearer voice, he knew - knew! - that she knew something was wrong.
"I don't believe that," she told him carefully, stating the obvious as she narrowed her eyes at him from across the desk. "Tell me the truth, now, before I force it out of you."
"... That was the truth. Nothing is wrong with me." His voice shook, and it sounded rather weaker than the fore "nothing" had. He was struggling slightly to breathe - he had inhaled too much of the fumes. He cursed himself again. Why hadn't Chihiro been asleep when he had walked in? why had he started burning the leaves immediately? And where was he going to sleep? The leaves needed to be burning or at least smoldering all night long.
He had been counting on Yubaba to give him an all-nighter job.
Instead, she just leaned forward and her eyes were now dangerous slits. She lifted a hand, once more opening her eyes fully. She smiled sickly sweet at him.
"So be it, Little Dragon Boy," she said. "I'll have to force it out of you. how long can you last against my spell, I wonder? Last time it was a record- breaking thirty-five minutes." She opened her palm wide, facing him, and he tensed every muscle, trying to throw up a shield of some time to stop her attack.
He did, but not in time. So instead of repelling her spell away from him, he trapped it inside. Immediately, every little thing she had taught him rushed through his mind, and he bit both lips, knowing what it was; a truth spell. It'd make him tell her whatever she wanted. The only upsides were that he was naturally good at fighting it and that she could only ask one question, then the spell would wear away.
He shut his eyes, and when he opened them again he was on his knees, shaking, both hands gripping thr front strap of his carrier-bag, and he just gave up. He was wasting too much energy.
"I inhaled some poisonous fumes," he blurted out, "that are supposed to help the Human."
The spell wore off. He gasped in relief, falling forward onto the floor, palms sweating so hard he almost slipped and landed face-first on the carpet.
"The Human?" his employer asked, momentarily confused. "Oh, yeah, that one; I remember. What, is she sick?"
"Yes, Yubaba-sama."
"You're supposed to be taking care of her."
"I think she was a little ill before she got here, and the food in this world only made it worse."
"What are her symptoms?"
Haku pushed himself up, still shaking slightly. "Dizziness, headaches, stomach pains, tense muscles, sweating heavily, clammy skin other than her face, high fever, flushed cheeks and forehead," he ticked them off, lifting his chin and staring at the ceiling slightly, as though all the answers to the world could be found there. "Hoarse voice... she thinks she has some sort of human virus called Influenza or something of that sort. I'm not so sure." He wasn't about to outright admit he had no idea what to do.
Yubaba frowned at him.
He frowned right back, still breathing somewhat heavily.
"You must remember how very frail Humans are, especially their children," she chided softly. Dangerously.
He ran all possibly sarcastic and smart-remarks through his head, each one sure to get him in more than just a little bit of trouble.
Haku decided not to answer.
Yubaba, of course, took this as impudence.
"Well, now you're stuck with her, so I suggest you get someway to keep yourself from breathing in those fumes, and don't let them all over the bathhouse. Sen has a contract, signed, and if she doesn't keep with it..."
"... I'll be responsible," he finished lamely. "I know."
"Yes. And have you considered what punishments you'll get? Ill, injured, or dead even, you'll have to live them out?"
He bit back a not only ironic but sarcastic comment to that one. "No, I have not, Yubaba-sama."
She leaned forward. "I suggest you cure your little human, Little Dragon Boy, soon - very, very soon."
He fought a shudder. "Hai, Yubaba-sama."
"Good. Now, I want you to supervise the bathhouse for the rest of today, got that? I'll send what's-his-name down to take over when it starts to get dark."
"......... Hai, Yubaba-sama."
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When Chihiro woke up again, she gasped, hands flying to her chest. It felt as though it were constricting, caving in on itself, trying to pull apart, stretching, squishing up against her ribs, painfully, painfully... She gasped again, a small "Gyah!" and then an even tinier "Help!" along with her breathy response to the growing pain in her chest. Her throat was hoarse. She turned her head and saw the leaves had all burned out. Unconsciously, she reached out to the still burning candle, and managed to force her quaking hand to nudge a leave into the flame. She watched it as she felt her air passageways begin closing.
Tears streaked down her face.
She closed her eyes, praying it would be over soon.
It wasn't.
She began to breathe easier, after what felt like forever, and opened her eyes again. Seeing the leaf half-burned, she immediately sat straight up and grabbed a few more leaves, putting them on the candle as well. Then, seeing as the candle was so small and smothering as well, she grabbed a new one and lit it.
Proud of herself, she looked over her handiwork.
Then promptly gave a muffled scream and collapsed on the pillow, first clutching her head, digging fingernails into skin as the pain threatened her very life it seemed. More tears cascaded down her face, and she let out a few choked sobs. Finally, it was once more a simple thud thudding rhythmically in her temples, then - as though it had been waiting for her headache to come and then relieve itself slightly - her stomach slammed against her skin, it felt like, wanting to tear itself apart.
She didn't notice the door open, or the tiny gasp, until it felt as though the pain all over her body had finally subsided. Slowly, she tipped her head up on the sweat-soaked pillow and stared, trying to focus her eyes. Rin sat next to her, frowning worriedly, rubbing her shoulder. A tight cloth was around her nose and mouth. It took Chihiro a moment to figure out why.
The leaves. Haku had said they were poisonous.
"What?" she croaked, but Rin shushed her.
"It's okay, Sen-san. I'm here, don't worry."
"But you have to get out, you'll be poisoned!"
"That's what I have this cloth on for, right? Haku warned me about these fumes. I came to visit you and make sure he isn't making your life worse."
"My relationship with Haku-sama is rather stretched, if that's what you mean. He hasn't really done anything bad to me." Chihiro flexed her shoulder muscles slightly. "I hurt all over. I want Okaasan and Otousan."
"I'm sorry, Sen," Rin told her sympathetically.
Chihiro ended up falling asleep again under Rin's watchful gaze and comforting presence.
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When she woke up again, it was dark... late into the night. It took her a moment to figure out why she had woken up...
"Gyahrragh!" she hissed through her teeth, curling into a tight ball, arms clutching her chest, her heart and lungs both trying to rip themselves apart, pushing painfully against each other, almost breaking her ribcage, constricting, out, in, pain, painfully, couldn't breathe... then her entire muscle structure, it seemed, tightened up, and she twitched slightly with each painful beat of her struggling heart. Being able to focus on only one aspect of pain, she didn't necessarily notice the shards of white hot pain slamming into and out of her diaphragm, and she was currently unable to throw up, which was what her stomach wanted to do.
It seemed to last forever, and there must have been an entire river constructed from her tears by now. She found herself wishing, hoping almost, for death, or unconsciousness, anything, anything to escape this pain...
Something wasn't letting her though. An intense hotness in her mouth, on her tongue.
She swallowed reflexively.
The first to fade was the pain in her heart, lungs, neck, chest. They were soon a simple thumping of soreness. Her muscles relaxed somewhat (that lactose acid would cause cramps for sure) and the thudding in her temples became known at last. She gripped her head tightly, nails digging into her own flesh, until the thumping in her brain also became a sore thud, simple. She clutched her stomach momentarily, thanking everything and all that the sharp stinging pain she felt there only lasted a second, then she gasped, groaned, rolled over, came halfway off the bed, and threw up.
The thudding in her head did not stop. The aching of her stomach - upper and lower - did not stop. Her muscles were extremely sore. She was shaking as though she had hypothermia. Tears still leaked from her eyes. She could literally feel each slow, hard, and deliberate thump of her heart, which also ached considerably. Her lungs burned, as did her throat, struggling to access oxygen soon enough.
She just lay where she was for a while that seemed like forever, the only other thing other than the pain and aching and soreness in her body that she could access was a strange ringing in her ears. She shook terribly, racking her small, thin frame. She was drenched in sweat. Her eyes hurt, all of the muscles in her face hurt, and any part of her that wasn't completely soaked in sweat was soaked in tears. Chihiro couldn't tell if they were still streaking down her cheeks or not.
Eventually, the aching began to slow, and the pain evaporated, being replaced by even harder shivers and a huge feeling of numbness. Dizziness took over, and when she fell back gently, slowly, on her back on the bed, it felt as though she was spinning out of control, falling into the sky. the room, or what she could see in the dark out of her blurred eyes, was warping and twisting around.
Finally, blissful unconsciousness took over.
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She woke up from yet another nightmare. Yet this one, she couldn't remember for some reason.
The light feeling of those burning leaves left her feeling much better, but she was well aware of how much she needed a bath. She tried not to think about last night. Instead, she blinked, and tensed then relaxed each muscle, testing her body. She was extremely sore all over, but that seemed to be it.
Even her head had lessened to an almost ignorable ache. Dull. She blinked her eyes, and waited patiently for her vision to clear. when it finally did, she tensed first, then relaxed slightly.
She was on her back, tangled up in the sheets, head tipped slightly to the side. a cool, wet cloth was on her forehead, and she appreciated it greatly. There weren't any leaves burning.
Haku was sprawled next to her, head buried in arms.
That was the reason she had tensed up.
He looked to be unconscious.
That was the reason she had relaxed.
Sun shown through, and she closed her eyes.
When Chihiro felt better then she had before in quite a while, she slowly sat up, caressing her temples. They thudded stronger now, but that was it. not even her stomach ache bothered her.
Carefully, she got up and slipped over Haku, standing up on the floor (which was clean, she noticed) and holding the side of the bed for support. She almost collapsed; her muscles were very weak.
Weaker than she had expected. Her movements woke Haku up.
"Feeling better?" he asked, sitting up - Chihiro couldn't help but notice that he seemed cute, almost childish even, sitting like that, hair all messed up.
THEN she noticed something else: Haku didn't look too good.
"I'm a little weak," Chihiro said softly, voice hoarse.
"That's good," Haku said. "I was afraid you might not have woken up last night."
"Eh? Do you know what happened?"
"Developed a dependency on the leaves - it happened so fast. Way too fast, seriously. I figured you wouldn't start physically relying on them for a few weeks, but in just a few hours, apparently..." he trailed off for a moment. "When you weren't breathing the fumes anymore, your body seized up, because of chemical response - it'd be like having your lungs pulled out. I'll admit you scared me; not really, but enough to keep me from thinking straight, and I gave you a leaf, had you eat it." he paused again. "It should have killed you. Looks like you've pulled through, though."
Chihiro fell (not literally) away into thought, mulling over things. A chemical reaction? Like, she had been addicted to the leaves? Eew. That burning on her tongue... that must have been the leaf he made her eat. And Chihiro was well-aware that one like Haku would have to be PRETTY freaked out to stop thinking straight. She stared as hard as she could into his olive-green eyes, trying to figure it out.
"Haku-sama," a male voice called. "Yubaba wants to see you."
"Hai," Haku called back, almost literally stumbling to his feet and running a hand through his hair. "Stay here," he ordered, and Chihiro decided on three things; one, Haku looked extremely tired; two, Haku looked like he was hot and uncomfortable; three, there was a slight flush on his rather abnormally pale cheeks. He danced around for a minute, throwing a blue long- sleeved shirt on and the white one over it. he tied a sash quickly, and headed towards the door, running a hand through his hair again, except more to straighten it out this time.
"W- wait! When are you coming back? I feel better!"
Too late. he was already gone.
Chihiro sat there for a while before laying back down on the bed. She managed to sleep off and on for a little while, but was wide-awake by the time noon rolled around. Or, the sun shone brightly through the window. "I want to see Okaasan and Otousan," she said to herself softly, exercising her voice.
Right then, there was a light knock on the door, and Rin entered.
"Rin-san!" Chihiro cried, feeling a wave of relief wash over her. She got to her feet, stumbled, and managed to make it over to Rin before Rin could make it to her.
"Sen! You're okay...? Maybe you should lay down. I guess Haku wasn't lieing." She ushered Chihiro back to the bed and made her sit down at least.
"What'd he tell you?"
"That you were feeling better, and if I could feed you for him. He looked like he was in a hurry - I wonder what he was doing that was so important? But what's in the main focus now is you." Rin smiled, sitting next to her. She felt her forehead. "You still have a fever," she announced, "but you must be hungry too."
"I am!" Chihiro cried immediately. She redid her ponytail. She thought a moment. "Anou, Rin-san? Do you have any human food here?"
"I don't know..." Rin frowned lightly. "What does human food look like? Maybe we do."
"Well, some human food, like dumplings, and rice balls, and sushi, then there's other kinds of human food, like mien chow, or pasta, salad, it's a lot like the stuff here, except different I think." Her throat began to hurt. She clammed up.
"Oh." Rin brightened up. "We have plenty of that stuff here. Like the dumplings and rice balls? Will some of those work? I think I can get you whatever you want since I'm acting on-" Rin wrinkled her nose "-------Haku- sama's orders."
"They might work. I'd like to see them first, though, if that's okay."
"Duh." Rin grinned again. "You just lay here, I'll be right back." She stood up and began making her way to the door.
"Rin-san!" Chihiro called. "Wait! Wait, what am I going to do, I mean, how long will you be gone?"
"Not long," Rin said distractedly, and closed the door behind her. Chihiro listened to her footsteps fade away, then sighed and felt her forehead. "I don't think I have a fever," she muttered, more to herself. Either way, she laid down again.
True to her word, Rin didn't take very long. If an hour or so wasn't considered long. She said something about uncooperative idiots, but all the same Chihiro began to feel better after some rice balls and a lot of water. Rin said she was dehydrated.
Chihiro ended up falling asleep again, Rin's comforting voice guiding her to the realm of dreams.
Her dreams weren't so comforting.
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A/N: see? I made that chapter long. *sighs* I'm sorry it took so long to get out.