Her fingers gently traced the stone of the tunnel. Grasses and mosses had grown in there, filling the cracks and crevices of the aging rock with soft green pillows. The wind blew slightly, not enough to move her hair but enough to throw a few fly-a-aways into her eyes. She roughly captured and shoved said nuisances behind her ear and leaned out a bit to peer cautiously into the depths of the familiar tunnel. The cobblestones on the inside were still there, they too were surrounded by the green pillows. Gathering her courage she stuck out her foot, completely ready and willing to venture back to the place that had conquered and controlled her dreams, the place where her true friends and strength were, and then she promptly put that foot right back down and crammed her face into the stone walls.

"Okay, look." She berated herself, "You've force-fed an angry dragon, been chased by a giant jelly noh-mask threatening to eat you, endured 4 years of high school and the first of college- there is absolutely no reason why you can't take one measly step into a dark place."

She tried again. Hopeless. Again. Coward. Again. Moron! Finally, she just stared at the ground and just let her legs go loose, landing hard on her butt and groaning. But hey, she'd moved a little. First step: out of the way. With that done she hurled herself to her feet and began to make her way through the tunnel.

For eleven years, Chihiro had accepted anything that had come her way. She wasn't a fantastic student, she tried to pay attention in her classes but..they were just sooo boring. She also wasn't the best athlete, forever clumsy, and she'd die before she became any kind of cheerleader. So that just left her as little, average Chihiro. Well, not as little as she'd once been. Her hair had grown, but she cut it that summer, back to a familiar length, one that she could manage by tying it up into a ponytail with a certain hairholder, and her clothes were no longer pink and green. No, no. Her style was far more sophisticated: orange and blue. Much better. Her mother always fussed at her about how she still dressed and looked like a kid, 'do something with your hair' or 'at least wear some makeup' or 'why don't you wear a skirt?' But is was because of this boyish attitude and clothing that guys liked her. She wasn't about to lie to herself and say that she'd never found love outside of her precious Haku. She hadn't had numerous boyfriends, but enough. Enough of them to have spent a few nights with a tub of ice cream, tissues and soap operas, at least. But that wasn't now. Now she was back at the tunnel, on her way to find her people once again.

Chihiro thought of them all often, she wondered how Haku looked, had his face lost its baby fat? Had he grown taller? Handsome? She didn't doubt that. And then there was Lin, Lin probably looked the same; it wasn't her style to age. Maybe Yubaba and Zeniba had gotten more wrinkles, and maybe Kamajii was still there. He had to be. She smiled but then refocused on the slowly growing bright light ahead of her. After what felt like an eternity, she emerged on the other side, surrounded by tall grasses and old, smooth river rocks. Nothing had changed. She could still make out the red building in the distance.

Carefully, she scuttled across the shallow stream and then the railroad tracks, doing her best not to fall as she made her way through the field. As she approached the structure, a floodgate of memories broke. She saw Haku's sea-green eyes and Lin's amused expression. She remembered the smell of Kamajii's herbs. She scrubbed viciously at her eyes, she would not cry today. But even then, it had been eleven years, eleven long years. What if everyone had forgotten her? What if they didn't recognize her? What if…what if some had died? Frantically, she shook her head, as though she could shake the thoughts loose.

"Everything is going to be fine." She whispered to herself, "Everything will be just the way I left it."

She wandered through the stalls before the entrance to the Bath House, being obnoxiously careful not to eat anything until the sun began to sink. She reminded herself that she didn't have Haku there this time, so she was going to have to cross the bridge an make it to those horrible stairs on her own. Her heart started pounding when she began to see strange, half-visible forms lurking around her and immediately took off to find the bridge before things got too busy.

The light got softer as she left the food stalls behind and hid behind a bush beside the traditional-style bridge wrapped in red and gold ribbon. With her heart beating haphazardly in her chest she took a quick glance and decided that it was now or never. And with that, she took off running as fast as she could across the bridge, holding her breath even though there was no magic to protect her. During this mad dash, she was able to make out the frog-like greeter and grinned to herself. Everything was really just as she'd left it. Successfully making it across, Chihiro immediately ran towards the old stairs on the side of the building. But then she stopped, something was wrong. Glancing down, she gasped at the sight of a faint outline where her fingertips should have been and looked around furiously for something edible-then she spotted it. Upon reaching the little bush with tiny red berries, she was hit with another wave of nostalgia as she recalled Haku, with his thin, nimble fingers, forcing one of the little berries into her mouth; how had he known to grab some? She wondered, quietly.

Within a few seconds, she found herself facing her old nemesis: the stairs. 'Okay, now last time was a disaster,' she thought,' this time, nice and slow and smooth.' With that, she plopped down on the first step and slowly shifted her feet over the ridge, 'Now doesn't this feel familiar' she fussed internally, hating how her face got hot and embarrassed and there wasn't even anyone around! She stood up abruptly, and gathered her courage to take one full step. It was safe. So she took another. Then another. Five steps later, she thought herself ridiculous for being such a scaredy-cat before. On number six, the wood creaked…thus sending her to the bottom of the stairs at an alarmingly short amount of time. So much for not being a scaredy-cat.

She'd barely nudged open the door when a cracking, old voice called,

"Who's there?" Kamajii. She felt her eyes begin to water as she stared at his spider-like hands and humped back.

"Kamajii?" She asked softly.

"Whoever you are, speak up! Going deaf, you know."

"Kamajii?" She tried a bit louder. He froze. Worry struck her- did she sound different? Did he not recognize her?

"Chihiro…" The humped back turned away slowly until she found herself staring at the dark-spectacled, mustached man. He seemed to study her in complete disbelief behind the dark glasses. "Chihiro, you came back.." She smiled sheepishly, trying to hide the hot liquid threatening to spill down her face.

"Yeah, Kamajii…I'm back."

A/N:

Hey people! I haven't written in what feels like decades! Been busy with school and whatnot, but now I've got the whole summer to avoid summer reading