Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Except for my characters. :)

Go easy on me, it's my first Anime fic. That would mean it's also my first 'Spirited Away' fic. Yeah. By the way, 'Spirited Away' is an awesome movie and I love it to bits and pieces. It was sooo sweet. I cried. *sniffles and wipes away a tear* BOOOHOOO!

Enjoy! ;)

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

By Tic-Tac ~

"We'll see each other again, right Haku?" I asked him, clutching his hand tighter. My soft brown eyes were pleading, holding him in my gaze. Haku stalled, and I grew more anxious.

"Promise?" I encouraged.

"Yes. Now go. Go, and don't look back." He said, giving me a gentle squeeze.

I slowly let go of his hand and ran down the hill, tears stinging in my eyes. I wanted to treasure him, to feel safe in his embrace. I already missed his touch, his voice, and his gentle smile that he always directed at me. I missed his deep, dark eyes that had once again regained their shine, after finally discovering his true name.

The Kohaku River.

I fought a battle of wills as I stopped, looking around at the grass waving and toppling in the wind. My head slowly crept around, but I stopped it before I looked back. Unshed tears glistened in my eyes. My breathing became heavy and shallow.

Oh, Haku, I miss you already… how can I live without you…?

Slowly and sadly, I returned to my parents. They were waving frantically.

"Where have you been, Chihiro?"

I woke up from my daydream abruptly as my friend Aiko poked me in the back with a pencil. It was then I realized I was in a classroom during a lecture. Aiko jerked her head at the teacher and I looked up quickly. He was tapping his foot on the floor in annoyance.

"Chihiro, will you please catch up with what I am saying?" The teacher asked, returning to his lecture. He cleared his throat, and I blushed frantically, as twenty heads turned my way. I gathered up the papers on my desk, some of which, I noted, were covered in drool. I heard giggling and soft whispers.

Some of the papers slipped from my grasp. They scattered around my desk, and the teacher turned around to look at me sharply. I grinned guiltily as he stared at the floor, which was covered in my homework. He looked up and sighed.

"Pick those up after class, Chihiro." He said exasperatedly. I nodded.

"Yes sir." I managed to squeak. Embarrassed, I tried to make myself invisible by scrunching down in my seat.

Tsk, tsk, Chihiro. Still a klutz. Just like you were four years ago when you met Haku…

My mind taunted me. It tortured me, always reminding me of him, even when I tried to forget…

But I couldn't. I couldn't forget the spirit bathhouse I had come to call home. I couldn't forget the friends I had made, or the boy I had come to love. It wouldn't be right to pretend that it wasn't real, that it was never real.

Sometimes I wondered though.

I had never told anybody about my adventure in the spirit world. It would arouse suspicion, and I didn't want people looking at me like I was a crazy girl that had just come out of an insane asylum. That wouldn't do. Besides, Aiko already wondered about me, and even though she was my best friend, I could see her shaking her head behind my back, her gaze not fully meeting mine.

I knew I wasn't unpopular among the boys. I had gotten invitations to go on a date by a few. I kindly refused each offer, telling them I wasn't 'ready for that sort of thing'. That was a lie. It's just, I couldn't tell them why I wouldn't go with them. I couldn't just tell them that I was in love with someone else. That someone else being a river spirit. They would just laugh at me, and chuckle behind my back. I couldn't live like that.

Even so, I seemed to be a guy magnet. I guess it had become a sort of contest between them; who could get Chihiro on a date first? Who's the lucky guy? Exasperated as I was, I was polite and proper to each, but in the end, their invitation was always turned down.

After class, and school, I met up with Aiko at her locker. She seemed to want to stretch out the time, slowly turning her dial and slipping her tongue between her teeth as she matched up the arrow with the right numbers to the combination. After what seemed like an eternity, she opened her locker and pulled out her books. She slipped them into her backpack, and I watched impatiently.

"Aiko?" I asked for the thousandth time, "Do you go slow just to torture me?" She just shrugged and grinned.

"I was waiting for some thank you's and a bit of groveling. But, I guess you don't appreciate me as much as I hoped you did." She flicked back her black hair and put on a pouting face. I smiled, and the muscles on my cheek stretched, as though I hadn't used them in a long while. That surprised me. Was I really that distant from the world?

Was I an outcast? I pushed those thoughts from my mind. But, like any thought, it was likely to reappear right when you didn't want it to.

"C'mon." I motioned to Aiko, and we were about to go, when a boy marched up to us, turning slightly red when he saw us. Aiko immediately put on an act, smiling and running a hand through her shoulder-length, raven-black hair. But the boy wasn't watching Aiko, he was looking at me. Up close, I suddenly recognized him. He was a boy named Hiroshi: one of the most popular teenagers in the whole entire school.

Even then, I didn't move an inch. No blush crept up my cheeks, unlike Aiko's cheeks, which were bright scarlet. I could've fried an omelet on them.

I was surprised that he would talk to me. I heard Aiko giggle next to me, and I glanced at her in annoyance.

"What is it?" I asked Hiroshi, shifting my backpack from one shoulder to another. He grinned a smile worthy of a magazine cover, and I didn't care. I sighed. Sometimes I wondered if something was wrong with me. I fingered my sparkling purple hair band that tied my hair back in my trademark ponytail. Hiroshi continued, watching me closely.

"I was wondering, Chihiro, if you wanted to go out with me. That is, if you want to." He flashed another smile. I started to get nervous. I hated the part when I dumped every boy that asked me that question. I bit my lip.

"Listen Hiroshi," I started, leaning on a locker, "It's really nice of you, but I can't." Aiko sent me a half amazed, half aggravated look. I ignored her. Hiroshi looked shocked that I had refused. Then he laughed, like he thought it was one big joke. Smiling, he continued to chuckle.

He stopped abruptly when he saw the stony expression plastered on my regretful face. He frowned.

"It's not that I don't like you," I said quickly, feeling terrible all over again, "it's just… umm…" Hiroshi glowered, embarrassed. He looked at me out of the corner of his eye.

"It's another guy, isn't it Chihiro?" He asked, and all I could do was shake my head. Another lie. Hiroshi looked a bit happier.

"So, you're available?" He asked, grinning. I tightened my lips and frowned.

"I don't want to be considered as an 'available' person, Hiroshi…"

"Sorry. What I mean is, you don't have a boyfriend, right?"

For once, I was stuck. I tried to talk, but my tongue wouldn't cooperate. I licked my lips and glanced at Aiko, who was shaking her head 'no'. I clasped my hands together. They were shaking, sweaty, and clammy.

What would you do, Haku?

"I, um…" Hiroshi interrupted by laughing, positively beaming. He ran off towards his friends, yelling about how he was going to plan how to get me to go on a date with him sooner or later. Of course, he didn't know that his plan was foiled even before in existence. I couldn't bear to bring myself to betray Haku.

Memory or no memory, I still held him in my heart.

Turning to Aiko, I sighed, "why don't they ask you? You're prettier than me." Aiko shrugged and shook her head.

"I don't know, Chihiro. Maybe there's something about you that they like. For me being prettier than you, I would say we're about equal." We laughed and began our short walk home, chattering and chuckling for old time's sake.

As soon as we reached a fork in the road, Aiko took one way, and I took the other. Waving our good-byes, we walked our separate ways.

Hitching the backpack higher on my shoulders, I walked along the gravel road, kicking stones as I passed. I looked up at the blue sky, embroidered in clouds of pure white, and I sighed, in remembrance of another memory of Yubaba's spirit bathhouse. It seemed that everywhere I went reminded me of the spirit world. My heart literally broke, and I struggled to keep the tears from flowing out of my eyes.

I walked for a while, head down. My breathing was shallow and filled with short wheezes.

When I looked up, I gasped and almost cried out in amazement.

I was standing in front of the entrance to the spirit world.

Sorry! Cliffhanger! *begs and pleads* don't kill me… I'll finish it, I promise! :)

Thank you, and please review! *smiles sweetly*