Spirited Away Fan Fiction ❯ Courage of the spirit ❯ Out of the frying pan ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer I really don’t own it that much should be obvious, I just forget to keep telling you all. Besides if you try to sue I’ll run away and cry.   Out of the frying pan   Chihiro continued to search she was sure she was walking through things she could not see. She could almost hear her heart pounding with fear. The darkness was complete and pressed like a blindfold on her straining eyes. “No, it’s not supposed to be like this!” she mumbled “I’m supposed to save Linca and defy Yubaba not vanish like a wraith.” She had the distinct feeling of walking in circles so she stopped. She then heard a sound that made her heart skip a beat. “Get a move on you little runts!” She ran towards the noise and popped out of the wall behind Kamaji’s work station. But it was not Kamaji who was there.             A red and black striped puff ball of a spirit with a black head, stumpy arms and small fly’s wings on its back regarded her curiously. Its big black eyes were insectile and unreadable. “Who are you and what are you doing here!” snapped a familiar voice. “Don’t you know it’s very rude to surprise someone like that, where did you learn your manners spirit!” Chihiro turned and there sat at the end of the room was Kamaji. “Kamaji” she gasped feeling a little faint…literally. “It’s me” the old spirit removed his glasses showing deeply wrinkled brown eyes. “Who?” He seemed puzzled “Do I know you?” “It’s me” she repeated. Her voice sounded a little far away. “It’s Sen.” “Sen!” Gasped the old spirit “what happened to you?” “Kamaji I need food” she was really faint now the colours of her clothes looked completely washed out. “Food” the old spirit slapped himself on the forehead. “Of course a human coming to the spirit world will disappear if they do not eat food from this world.” Kamaji scratched his head. “But I have no food; Rin has not been with breakfast yet.”             The furry spirit buzzed its wings irritably and flew at great speed for such stubby wings to the little door and lifted up a used bowl. It buzzed back in. It reminded Chihiro of a bumble bee, a bumble bee with the speed of a humming bird. It hovered in front of her and she noticed it had no legs just a flat furry base. She looked in the bowl. At the bottom was a puddle of congealed grease and 3 grains of rice. “Buzz” said the fluff ball motioning her to the bowl. She put her hand out, not thinking, and it went straight through the bowl. “How am I going to eat it?” she asked. “Bee-la” snapped Kamaji “feed her.” The fluff ball extended a black hand, scooped up the leftovers and shoved it into her mouth. Chihiro gagged on the rancid fat but swallowed it and felt immediately sick. “Yuck” she exclaimed and looked down at herself. It has worked she was solid again.             Then 2 tokens fell from the hole in the ceiling. Be-la buzzed back to the work station. The soot balls picked up their coal where they had dropped it when Chihiro had popped in and started to haul it to the furnace. Chihiro swayed, she still felt sick. A pair of knarled old hands took hers and a third fell on her lower back. “Sit down Sen” he said kindly. She sat on the polished floor and let Kamaji remove her black sandals. “Now drink some tea, you look a little green.” He placed a cup in her hands with dark green liquid in it. “Peppermint tea, good for shock and upset stomachs.” Chihiro sipped it; it slipped down her throat like a dream. “Thank you” she sighed. “Now” said Kamaji “Why are you here?” “By accident” she replied “a friend of mine wondered in here. Her name is Linca; she has no idea about this place.” “If that’s true” said Kamaji “then Yubaba probably has her.”           &nb sp; Bee-la having finished with the tokens buzzed over to them and plopped himself besides Chihiro with a muffled thud. “This is my apprentice Bee-la” said kamaji “he does not say much but he can really move quickly which it what you need in this Job.” Chihiro bowed her head to Be-la. The Fluff ball rocked forward and buzzed a bit. “An apprentice?” She queried “since when?” “Oh about a year or two ago. Haku suggested I get one when he saw how busy I was just before festival time.” “Haku?” The name slammed into her like a sledge hammer. “I thought he would have left Yubaba’s service” “He did, and reappeared here 7 years later.” “W…Why?” she stammered. “Where did he go? Is he here now?” Kamaji held up all six hands. “One question at a time Sen!” He settled himself and Bee-la buzzed off to attend to some more tokens. “When you left he did exactly as he said and told Yubaba that it was all over. They had a huge argument; the bath house shook with it. But because you had given him his name back she had lost her power over him and he knew almost as much magic as she did.” Kamaji shook his head “So when she attacked him he defended himself.” “Attacked him!” Chihiro felt frightened and then furious. “How dare she!” she thought “After everything he did for her!” Kamaji seeing the human’s eyes burn with rage quickly continued. “Well after nearly destroying the place she had to let him go. So he said his goodbyes and left. Things went on pretty much as they had before, for a good number of years. Then custom started slacking off. Soon we were getting only a million a week. Then Haku turns back up at the door. He was different, more powerful and even less talkative than he had been.             He went straight to Yubaba and apparently struck some sort of deal with her. Anyway about two weeks later he came to talk to me.” Kamaji took a swig of his tea and gestured for her to do the same. She took a gulp and did feel less queasy. Kamaji continued.  “He then told me his tale. He had found his river.” “Wait” said Chihiro, “his river was destroyed.” “You’re a clever girl” chuckled Kamaji “Think about it. As destructive as your race is, can they really destroy a river?” “I don’t know” she admitted. “No” replied the spirit, “re-rout it, yes, dam it, yes, but destroy it, no. No power in either world can stop water flowing with gravity.” “So what happened to Haku’s river?” “Buried, the whole thing routed through underground caves. Only the source in the mountains is still above ground. Anyway, when it was forced underground it disorientated him. I mean he is the river and the river is him. To have it moved from its natural course was a great trauma to him. So he was forced to take caporal form and split himself from the river. Yubaba found him wondering and confused and took him and his name. He forgot about his home, his soul. That was until you came back and woke him up.”           &nbs p; Chihiro choked on her tea. “Me!” she squeaked “Yes you. Because of you he remembered everything. He became reunited with a long lost part of himself and inherited all the power of a fully mature water spirit. “No wonder he was different” she mumbled. “Yes he has great power and I think it is a bit of a burden to him. But in coming back to the bath house he regained his focus and now we are as popular as ever. It was widely whispered that the Lord and lady stepped in and enlisted his aid.” “Lord and lady?” “Oh, now this is a hard one to explain to an outsider.” Kamaji scratched his head again. “Err, think of them as the king and queen of this world, but they are more than that. They are pure magic, the god and goddess of the spirit world the essence of us all.” Chihiro frowned. “It is hard to explain but they control this would as Yubaba controlled the bath house, or like she did in the past.” “What do you mean?” All this information was making her head spin. “Well it was her greed and temper that eventually drove away custom. Even if she did not show such things to the guests, the staff grew unhappy and our guests can sense such things, so many stopped coming. However, the spirits need a place to rest and regain energy.             So Haku whether he was sent or not came and struck his deal. He owns half the bath house and with his new found power Yubaba dare not cross him. Best way to tie up a frustrated dragon if you ask me, get him into business.” “Why is he frustrated?” asked Chihiro “Surely he has all he wants now.” “All except that which he regained his power for” Chihiro shook her head not understanding. “To find you of course, he was worried about you, we all were. So when he finally got his power back he used it to try and locate you. But he could not find you; it was like you had cut yourself off from us. We took it as a good sign, that you were happy and did not remember us.” Chihiro was stunned, for a few minutes she just stared at the old spirit and then a sudden sob bubbled up from her. “It was not true,” she cried “I was miserable, no one believed me, they thought I was mad. I made myself believe it was all a lie just to exist in my world, and now you tell me that the one person who could have brought me back could not find me because of this! I’ve been such a fool Kamaji” Tears rolled down her face. “I could have come back years ago.” “There, there” said Kamaji patting her with 4 hands, “don’t cry it’s all okay now, isn’t it?”           &nbs p; The door opened “Breakfast!” said a voice that made Chihiro’s face light up. She stood still a little wobbly forgetting her tears. “Rin” she cried. The dark haired woman turned around and knitted her brows. “Who are…” then she stumbled back a pace eyes wide with shock. “Sen…is…is that you” she stammered. She looked Chihiro up and down. “You’re all grown up, you look wonderful” She came over to her and hugged her. “My haven’t you rounded up, a proper human woman. You were pretty as a child but now you are beautiful.” Chihiro blushed. “Stop it Rin” she laughed. Then her face changed, her stomach cramped and her head started pounding. What was going on?  Rin started giving the soot balls their multi coloured food. “Not feeling well still Sen?” asked Kamaji. “Not really” she replied “Mmm” mumbled kamaji and crawled over to his chest of draws and extracted a tatty looking black tome. He settled himself and started thumbing through it.             Rin came back over, still bouncing on her toes to have her friend back, but she looked worried. “So what are you going to do? Yubaba will know a human is here she may even know it’s you.” “I don’t know.” She said worried now “I came here by accident, again. My friend is trapped here with me; Kamaji thinks Yubaba will have her by now.” Rin nodded. “It’s quite likely and with Haku not here you have no protection from her.” “Haku's not here!” now Chihiro was really worried. “No he divides his time between here and his river.” Rin stamped her foot. “That idiot! Trust him to be away when we need him.” Then there was a little tap at the door. Rin jumped and looked at Chihiro. Be-la buzzed his wings. Rin went to the door and opened it. The Yu-bird still in it’s sparrow like form flew in. It circled Chihiro’s head twice and settled on her shoulder. “I think you are being summoned” said Rin quietly. “I guessed that” Chihiro shook herself and sighed. “I better get this over with.” She turned back to them at the door. “If I come back as a pig, don’t feed me too much kitchen rubbish, I prefer chocolate pudding.” She then closed the door on the worried faces in the boiler room.