Sucked back to consciousness Chihiro groaned.

"Lie still," said Rin. "Don't try to get up too soon."

"What happened?" Chihiro croaked. Her throat was dry her body felt as if it had been beaten by a big stick repeatedly. She ached all over, every muscle complained and when she shifted she almost screamed from the cramp.

"I said lie still!" snapped Rin again, "you want to hurt yourself or something? You are the worst patient I've ever had!" Chihiro relaxed.

"And just how many patients have you had Rin?"

"Three," she declared "you're my fourth."

"Well, that's not a very large basis for a comparison. Four in your long life! Now if you were a full-time healer I'd be insulted."

"Give it a rest you two," sighed Kamaji. "Rin leave her alone, Sen, stop antagonising her."

"Who are you, my father?" Chihiro complained.

"If you act like a child you'll be treated like one," Retorted the old spirit. Rin actually stuck her tongue out at him. Chihiro giggled and made to sit again.

"Stop it!" cried Rin.

"I have to keep moving Rin. If I stay flat on my back all day I'll just get weaker more quickly."

"Alright." she held her hands up. "I give up." Rin then helped her to sit up against the wall, supporting her back with pillows. She placed some ginger and lemon tea in her hands.

"Now drink up and don't argue," Chihiro sipped the tea and pulled a face, it was very strong. The ginger burnt her mouth and the lemon was so sour it made her eyes water.

"I'd kill for a coffee," she complained. "That's what's making me sick, caffeine withdrawal, and not inter-dimensional travel."

Rin smiled but did not understand what she was talking about.

"So what happened?" Chihiro asked again. Her muscles were starting to relax but her head still hurt and she still felt queasy.

"You collapsed and fitted for a good few minutes." Said Rin, "afterwards you were unconscious for the rest of the day."

"No wonder I feel like I have a hangover," She mumbled. Rin looked at her seriously.

"Sen I beg you go to Yubaba, there is no need for you to suffer."

"No," Chihiro replied firmly. "I will not get myself involved with that witches intrigues."

"But..."

"No buts Rin this is how it has to be. What do you think she will demand of me in return? I will at least have to sign a contract and forget my name etc. Then what else? Will she use me against her sister? Against Haku? What if she does get the bathhouse back? I bet you Kamaji will not keep his apprentice. You and all the other workers won't keep their day off, or their right to a share in the tips, or the changing shift patterns so no one has to work nights all the time. These are all things Haku has brought in; she will tear it all down."

"You should be thinking of yourself, not us," Replied Rin.

"You're my friends, how can I not think of you?" Chihiro sighed, "my decision is what is best for everyone, not just me." Rin just shook her head; she could not believe how selfless Sen was being. Selfless and stupid.

"Did you get the message to Bou?" Asked Chihiro.

"Yes," replied Rin. "And he said he would be glad to carry it for us. He leaves tomorrow." Chihiro smiled.

"You see, in a few days all will be well, including me." Chihiro could not help thinking to herself.

"Since when did I become the optimistic type? Things always go wrong for me."

Over the next 24 hours, Chihiro's condition worsened. She felt as weak as a kitten and had started to vomit. She had kept her last meal down though with a combination of herbs Kamaji had dosed her with. She kept busy by helping Kamaji prepare the herbal infusions and extracts that were most needed so that Bee-la would not have to stop and make them himself. When he had time the puff-ball air spirit would sit by her and fan her with his wings.

Chihiro would chatter away to him with only the occasional buzz for an answer. She also chattered to the soot balls. Kamaji suspected all this chatter was down to a case of cabin fever. The young woman must be very bored he thought, she had been stuck in the stuffy boiler room for four days now.

Rin came when she could, but she was very busy. The summer solstice was approaching. It would be one of those few times of the year when the bathhouse would close. There was no point it being open, no spirits would come. They would be celebrating the suns ultimate conquest over winter by being with their rivers, air currents, trees and mountains.

"All of nature rejoices in the solstice," Said Kamaji.

"I never really noticed," Replied Chihiro.

"You wouldn't you're human," was all he said as if it was an explanation.

Rin talked of nothing else.

"It's great we all get the night off and have a huge party. You'll have a great time!"

"I don't know," muttered Chihiro. "Me and parties don't seem to mix."

"Nonsense!" replied Rin, "everyone enjoys themselves on the solstice."

Linca also pressed on Chihiro's mind. Where was she? Was she okay? She missed her banter and sense of humour, at least she knew about coffee and chocolate, even if she wasn't human as Yubaba had claimed. However, it looked as if Yubaba had been worried about the possibility of a human running loose. Rin had told Chihiro that the witch had sent out search parties that had scoured the place.

At dawn on the fifth day, Chihiro had woken up to a sharp rap on the boiler room door. Kamaji and Bee-la were just about to turn in for the day, Chihiro struggled up, she felt weak but not sick. The door opened and a frog Chihiro did not know waddled in.

"Yubaba wants to see you human." Was all it said, Chihiro wobbled to her knees.

"Give me ten minutes to get dressed please."

"Don't take all day!" Snapped the frog, and slammed the door.

"Kamaji" she hissed "Help me, I can't look ill." The two spirits went into overdrive. Soon she was dressed in a loose pair of cream linen trousers with a cream linen tunic on her top. Bee-la pulled some cosmetics from somewhere and in a moment her face was powdered and her cheeks blushed. He did a good job of hiding the unhealthy pallor of her skin. Lastly, Kamaji gave her a dose of something that burned on its way down her throat.

"It will give you strength, but not for long, and it will leave you weaker than you are now when it wears off."

"Thank you, both of you," she clasped a hand from each of them. "And I promise if I get no help by tomorrow I will ask Yubaba for help." Kamaji nodded and Bee-la buzzed.

"Hurry now," said Kamaji. Yubaba does not like to be kept waiting.

The frog escorted her through the bathhouse. He mumbled all the way.

"Stinking human, coming here, not right.... Should be punished... Would not have happened 20 years ago." Chihiro said nothing. Kamaji's medicine was pulsing through her. It was like a fire in her veins but she was very aware that it was burning a lot of energy. They came to the top floor. The frog had gone strangely quiet. Instead of leading her to the doors that taste forgot, the frog turned sharply and walked away from the doors and down the hall.

"Hey!" Said Chihiro, "aren't we going the wrong way?" The frog did not reply.

"Hey!" She said again, but he just kept on walking. Chihiro slipped in front of him. The frog's eyes stared blankly, he pushed past her.

"Okay," she said to him. "I'll just follow you shall I?" They turned a corner at the end of the dark marble hall. The hall abruptly ended in a dark wooden door. The frog knocked and the door opened on its own.

"I can take a hint," Chihiro mumbled and walked in.

The room was large bright and airy. Paper screens surrounded two walls. The rest of the walls were glass, looking over the flat plain below. There was a dark wooden desk with two chairs on opposite sides. Apart from the odd ornament and picture the room was quite bare. The desk had nothing on it except a brush and ink.

"Take a seat please," Said a voice. It was deeper than she remembered it but there was no mistaking it, low, calm but with a slight lilt to it.

Her brain scrambled, unable to think of anything to say for a moment, she sat in the high backed brown leather chair. She looked around, she could not see him, and the room looked empty. She heard a noise by the door, she turned around in the seat. Still, there was nobody there.

"Why are you playing these games?" she asked much more calmly than she felt.

"I'm not playing games," came the reply from the other end of the room. She whipped her head around and there he was, standing by the windows.

"I'm just having a good look at you, to see if any of the little girl I remember is left."

Chihiro said nothing, she couldn't, her tongue seemed nailed to the roof of her mouth. It was the eyes, for a moment they were all she saw. Almond shaped, large, and the most unnatural shade of brilliant green, to look at them was to drown in liquid emeralds. Then she managed to tear herself away and look at the rest of him. He wore baggie black cotton trousers, the hems of which brushed his bare feet. He wore a tighter fitting tunic which was charcoal grey and a dark green sash was wound around his middle.

Part of her had expected the boy she had known, after all, Rin had not aged. It was a shock to discover that he was a boy no longer. His face was more chiselled and defined. His cheeks held no hint of stubble; Chihiro suspected he did not grow facial hair at all. Her eyes climbed his face to his hair. Black with highlights of green cut in the same style she remembered or perhaps a little longer. He had grown tall, a good head taller than her. He had also filled out a little, she ripped her eyes away from his physique altogether when she realised she had been staring at him for over a minute. She could tell by the slight turn of his full lips that he was amused by this.

"Had a good look?" He asked casually. Afterwards, Chihiro could think of a million put downs but at the time she said...

"I did not know spirits aged?" he did smile then and she felt her stomach tighten, he was devastatingly handsome.

"And dangerous," she thought to herself. "I can feel the power in him, he has changed."

"We don't," he replied. "Not unless we wish to. But most of us do not want to remain children forever. We have to grow up, but at a certain point we chose whether to age or not."

"Why did you wish to?" she asked. He laughed; it was a deep rich sound.

"As bold as ever I see, maybe there is some of the child yet in this woman's body." Chihiro did not know whether that was a compliment or an insult.

He moved to the desk and sat; such easy natural grace he had.

"Stop it!" she told herself, "you're thinking of him as if he was a horse you were about to purchase. Get your mind out of the gutter and concentrate your not out of trouble yet!"

"I thought Yubaba wanted to see me?" she asked.

"She did," he replied. "But I got here a lot faster than she thought I could so I intercepted you." He picked up a glass. Chihiro looked at the desk there was a fancy bottle of something fizzy and two crystal glasses on it.

"Wasn't that desk empty a moment ago?" he thought. She took one of the glasses and had a sip of the cloudy white liquid. It tasted like fizzy strawberries but ones laced with alcohol and then frozen; it chilled and warmed at the same time.

She took a deep breath and let it out blowing her fringe off her face. Haku ran his figures through his hair and smirked.

"You know after all this time I thought I would have plenty to say to you, but now I can't think of anything." With that, the imposing God of the river act was dropped. Chihiro smiled to herself.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who can put on a show for people."

"I thought that too," she said out loud. "But none of it seems important now."

"Well," he said sitting back and getting comfortable. "Let's start at the beginning. You are here by accident again aren't you?"

"How do you know that?" she asked.

"A little bird told me," he replied.

"Okay keep your secrets," she smiled. "Yes I am here without meaning to be, there was a girl with me, Linca. Do you know where she is?" Haku's face darkened for a moment.

"It's taken care of," he said.

"But where is she? Is she alright? Where has she been?" Chihiro pressed.

"She is fine and you will see her soon."

"More secrets," she thought, what was going on? Chihiro took another sip of the strawberry stuff.

Haku sighed and put his glass down.

"Though it is good to see you again, we must start planning your return."

"Return?" Chihiro was taken aback. In the week she had been there she had not once thought of her world.

"Yes, you are to go home." He looked at her, puzzled. "Surely you did not think you would be staying here?" Chihiro flushed, of course, she had.

"Absolutely out of the question," Haku shook his head making his hair shimmer. "You can't stay in this world; it is no place for humans." Chihiro had heard a little too much of that attitude for her liking. It was as if the fact she was human was an answer for everything she did not understand or could not do.

"Why? Does the thought of a having a human around the place disgust you that much?" She snapped and immediately regretted it when she saw the hurt on his face. Haku narrowed his eyes.

"A particularly lizard-like gesture," She thought.

"My concern is for you, many spirits think little of your kind and they have some justification. This world is dangerous, you may think this is some fairy tale place but it is not. You bleed as easily here as you do back home, and magic can do things to you that you can't even comprehend." He hissed.

"What if I am willing to take the risk!" she spat back at him.

"I am not," he replied. That took the sting out of his words somewhat, she felt her anger melt away. But the stubborn part of her shouted. "Will everyone please stop doing what they think is best for me!" However, to Haku she said...

"Please...please don't send me back. I was miserable there, I want to stay." She gave him an earnest wide-eyed look. "Please," She whispered. The green eyes regarded her for a long moment.

"No," he said gently. "You must go back, what will your parents think?" Chihiro grimaced, they would be frantic.

Haku stood.

"I'm sorry but this is the way it has to be. I have my reasons. I will take you back in two days." It was a dismissal if she had ever heard one. She stood, a little shaky now that Kamaji's potion was wearing off. She would have to sort that out, but what did it matter now if she was going back? She gave a low bow.

"Thank you for seeing me Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi." Haku frowned at her; she had used his full name as if it was a slur.

Without another word she left his office, he called after her but she just shut the door and wandered down the hall. Tears came to blur her sight, she seemed to be crying a lot lately.

"I don't want to go back," she sobbed. "I can't do it, I don't want to." She stumbled and realised she was shaking. She gasped and sniffed but could not stop her tears.

"He does not want me here. Where can I go now?" she wailed at the corridor. She swayed and the shaking increased in severity.

"I won't go back," she whispered, and her legs gave up and she crumpled to the floor.

Haku was staring out of the window when he heard the paper screen slide back.

"A little bird told me!" squeaked Linca, "why didn't you tell her?"

"She has enough to deal with. You should not have brought her here."

"Oh come on dragon!" snapped Linca. "With respect, you did not see her back there, shy, retiring, will completely crushed. Her parents thought she was crazy, she was miserable, what was I supposed to do?"

"How about your job?" he growled. "I sent you there to make sure she was well and to integrate her back into her own world if needed. Instead, you led her here and put ideas in her head that can only lead to disappointment." Linca felt afraid of the angry dragon but stood her ground.

"Oh, I did my job. I even tried to get her a boyfriend," Haku's head snapped up at that and he narrowed his eyes.

"You went there to help her, not act as matchmaker!" he hissed and then made an angry sound in his throat.

"Did he just snarl at me?" thought Linca, Haku towered above her and she was only too aware of the massive power he could command, she felt intimidated but refused to show it.

"What better way to ground her there than a man, and possibly children?" Haku spun away from her and looked out the windows, body rigid, jaw tight.

"But she rejected all that, still pining away after all these years for a place she had spent but a few days in. I saw it was pointless and I brought her home."

"She is not meant to be here, she is human, and it is dangerous," he protested.

"Dangerous for who?" retorted Linca, "you or her?" Linca did not get an answer as then Haku gasped and cried.

"Chihiro!" he dashed from the room, down the hall to where the collapsed young woman lay in a pathetic heap. He pulled her up to him gently.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and brushed her hair back from her face. He then picked her up and carried her back to his quarters.

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