Chihiro awoke in what she was sure must be the late morning, though with no sun to tell her, she could not be sure. There was a clock on Haku's bedroom wall, but she could not be bothered to turn over to look at it. She was happily exhausted. She ached all over, but it was a lazy ache, not painful. The only part of her that did throb a little was between her legs, and that was perfectly normal after how she had spent the early hours of that morning. She was lying on her side, Haku's legs were tangled through hers, and his left arm was draped over her waist possessively. His face was pressed to the back of her neck; she could feel his warm breath at her nape and his slow, even heartbeat where her upper back touched his chest. He was completely dead to the world. Chihiro grinned impishly to herself, thoroughly enjoying the closeness of his lithe, naked body.

"We did not do too badly for a pair of first-timers. No embarrassing mistakes at all."

She shifted under the covers and realised that she was clammy and sticky all over. Sex was messy; there was no getting away from it. She needed a bath. She wiggled out from the bed, carefully untangling her legs from his. He slept on, just sighing slightly at the disturbance. She padded over the floor to his bathroom, stopping to pick up his discarded kimono along the way. She sighed at the tatted pieces that now represented her nightgown. He would have to fix that for her; it was torn beyond her skill to repair; besides it was his fault. She slipped the kimono over her shoulders and opened the door to his bathroom quietly. She managed to clean herself up a bit with some warm water and a cloth. She tried to straighten her rat's nest of brown tresses with her fingers but gave up. She pulled a face at her reflection in the mirror; she looked a mess.

"Well, at least the Lady will be pleased," she murmured cynically. She shuffled back across the bedroom and snuggled back down in the bed. Haku still slept, she sighed contentedly and closed her eyes.

"Where did you go?" his voice rumbled next to her.

"Just to clean myself up a bit, I'm a mess," she replied with a yawn. An arm snaked around her and pulled her closer. He sat up slightly, and she rested her head on his chest.

"That's impossible," he whispered. "You're too beautiful to look a messy, ever." She smiled against him and closed her eyes again. "Are you hungry?" he asked; she shook her head. "Thirsty?"

"No," she mumbled.

"Is here anything else you need?"

"No, Haku," she said patiently, "Why don't you tell me what's really on your mind and then I can go back to sleep?"

"Well, it's just that..." He paused trying to think of a way to phrase what he wanted to say. "I thought I might have been a little rough on you last night."

"No," she said quietly, "You weren't, you were very tender and gentle." She hugged him tightly for a moment.

"If that's true then why have you been bleeding?" he asked in a strained voice. Chihiro frowned against his chest.

"When?" she asked, then realisation hit her before he answered. "Oh... I suppose you saw some blood on the sheets?" she mumbled; she felt him shake his head.

"I did not see it, I smelt old blood, and I know it's yours. Did I hurt you?" he whispered.

"No, it's normal, and it will only happen this once. I'll go into the biology of it another time, but right now I'm too tired."

She sensed his relief. He was quiet for some time; he started to stroke her hair sending her rapidly into a blissful doze. He was not finished, however, and he cleared his throat and said,

"I have something to tell you, well, to ask you. I was not sure if it would be fair on you before and our situation is fairly unique, but I guess all that does not matter anymore because, well we love each other and..."

"I did not know dragons could babble so much," she grumbled, nuzzling into his shoulder. "Whatever it is, just ask me." He took a deep breath.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want you as mine and mine alone." Chihiro was very still for a moment then her eyes snapped open, and she sat bolt upright.

"You have doubts that I am not yours already?" She was furious with him. "How can you even think something like that? I spend one night with you, and you are already thinking I'm going to be unfaithful!"

"No!" he gasped, sitting up too. He reached for her, but she shrugged away from him. "Chihiro that's not what I meant at all!" She folded her arms and scowled at him.

"Well, what did you mean?" she asked sharply.

"I... I... meant," he shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, clearly agitated. "I'm getting this all wrong, I've insulted you and all I wanted to do was..." Chihiro rolled her eyes, and her hold on her temper snapped.

"Oh, for all that is holy in this world, Haku! Just tell me before you put your foot any further into your mouth, then I can get back to sleep." He swallowed and looked at her steadily.

"I want you to be my life mate," he whispered. She frowned in confusion and then understanding swiftly followed. No wonder he had been nervous and inarticulate. Chihiro realised that he had just effectively proposed to her. He saw the surprise on her face and said,

"I'll be a good mate; I have plenty to offer you. I'm not short of money. I have half a business, two homes and no one else could keep you as safe as I can." Chihiro's astonishment was wearing off; she held her head on one side and considered him, arms still crossed. He was adorably anxious; he was fiddling with the covers and was avoiding looking at her, eyes downcast.

"Why ask me now?" she said at last.

"I did not intend too; I had it all planned out." He smiled self-consciously. "I would have made you a wonderful breakfast and then taken you to my spring. I know you like it there and I thought it would be the perfect place as it was the first place I kissed you." He did look at her fleetingly then. "Even if you did reject me back then, it did not matter. But it kept playing on my mind, however, what if you rejected me again? Maybe the place is cursed?" Chihiro felt a smile tugging at her lips. "So I talked myself into asking you now."

Chihiro just wanted to hold him and tell him not to fret so, but she also knew that she needed to hear his reasons. "In truth, the river has been screaming your name for weeks; it's driven me to distraction! This alone told me that I had to ask you soon." He reached out hesitantly and took her hands. "I did intend to do this properly, not here in my bed just after insulting you but I could not wait any longer."

He squeezed her hands and gazed into her eyes. "I woke up feeling fantastic, so loved and so happy. I reached out for you, but you were not there. I panicked for a moment; I thought you had just left me for a reason I could not fathom. Then I smelt the blood, I knew you had not gone far but I thought you..." he took another breath and exhaled slowly trying to calm himself. "Then I heard you humming to yourself in the next room. I was so relieved, and in that moment I was reminded what it would be like without you." He moved closer but continued to hold her hands.

"I don't want to be alone again Chihiro; I want to wake up every morning and know that you are here beside me. I simply can't exist anymore without you being mine." He touched her face, brushing strands of hair from her face and eyes. "I don't expect you to decide now little one; you will no doubt want to talk about it with your sisters, take time to come to understand exactly what I'm asking of you. I just felt like I had to ask, even if the answer turns out to be no, that's okay too..."

"Yes," Chihiro whispered.

"What did you say?" he hissed, dropping her hands.

"Yes," she said more loudly, but her voice wobbled a bit. He seemed completely taken aback, just staring at her.

"You need time to think about this; you don't know that..."

"Yes, yes, YES!" she cried, smiling as tears started to cloud her vision. "How many times do I have to say it before it sinks in?" she croaked. "I love you, and I don't need to think about this, I don't need to talk to anyone else. Yes, Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, I will be your life's mate!" She was enfolded in a bear hug of an embrace by the dragon. She tried her best to fight the tears, but her emotions got the better of her. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks, and she sobbed all over him. He cradled her to him, like a precious child.

"Oh my love," he whispered, "what did I do to deserve to be so happy?" Her tears eventually ceased, and she lost herself in a tender kiss from him. The dragon and the human smiled at each other, unaware that what they had just promised to each other in love and adoration would set in motion a chain of event s that had been foretold even before Haku's birth.

Chihiro did not know how long she merely smiled at him, but when she did manage to tear herself away from his mesmerising eyes, she noticed something unusual.

"Err, Haku?"

"Yes, my love?" he replied.

"Why is the bed two feet below me?" He looked down and laughed. Quite accidentally he had lifted them from the bed, and they were now floating in mid-air. He gently floated them back down, and Chihiro chuckled and kissed him. "I know love is supposed to make your heart soar, but this is ridiculous!" Haku threw a pillow at her.

Late, after a little more sleep, Haku took them for a bath. Chihiro thought a nice relaxing bath was just what she needed. It turned out, however, to be a little more energetic than she was planning. Being washed by a very handsome dragon would be hard for anyone to resist let alone one to whom you had just promised yourself to. Haku also seemed to insist on kissing every inch of her skin as he washed it. The inevitable happened, and it was much more raw and earnest than it had been before. At least they had the bath ready and hopped into it immediately after.

Much to Haku's disapproval, Chihiro insisted on going to her room to get dressed.

"If we continue like this we won't make it out of your room for about a week!" she had chuckled.

"I don't have a problem with that," the dragon had muttered with a sly smile.

They did, however, have other things that needed attention during their stay. There was a mountain of bathhouse paperwork to do, and Haku's river needed work too. Later that day Chihiro watched Haku disappear into his river. He would not resurface for a good hour at least. She sat on the beach and dabbled her toes in the water. The alien entity that was both water and dragon sighed with appreciation in her head, but it seemed content just to have contact with her. Chihiro could tell it was more interested in what was going on within itself. She sat quietly for some time, her bottom was damp from the wet sand, but she did not care. She was brought out of her musings by a low whinny. She turned to see the water horse hauling itself out of the lake. Once on the beech the delightful pony it shook itself like a dog and snorted.

"Hello," it said in its throaty voice.

"Hello," said Chihiro cautiously. The Nygel bared its straight teeth in a grin.

"You're not afraid of the water anymore?" it asked, trotting up to her.

"I had a chat with it and got to know it better. We are on good terms now." The horse pawed at the sand and then rolled over, kicking its legs up comically. Chihiro giggled as it struggled back to its feet. Black sand was stuck all over its shining bay coat. It snorted again and shook itself.

"Fish ticks," it explained. "They are the bane of my life. A while ago I used to sneak into domestic horse herds and got myself groomed once in a while. That was before they clogged up my home river with coal dust. After all the fish died, I had to move." Chihiro gave it a sympathetic look. "I'm not a bonded spirit; it was not so bad. I found this place eventually, but there are no humans here. I get bored easily, and the ticks drive me mad." It rested its rump on the sand; the gesture appeared more canine than equine to Chihiro, but she reminded herself again that this was no cute pony. You could not talk to your average cute pony for starters.

"So you are going to be the river's mate," it said conversationally.

"How do you know that?" she asked, surprised. "He only asked me a few hours ago."

"The river told me." The horse snorted. "Well, you're the first human in a long time to be mated to a God. Good for you I say!" Chihiro grinned.

"You mean there were other humans as stupid as me in the past?"

"Certainly," replied the pony. "The ancients of your kind would practically throw themselves at any local deity that they came across. It was seen as a great honour, especially if they got with or fathered a child. In some places in the human world today you can still come across those with spirit blood in them. That was back when the two worlds were closer though. Some say that they were one once, but not even the oldest spirits remember that."

Chihiro thought about what the pony said; if Haku and herself ever had children, they would be Halflings, neither fully of this world or the human one. She frowned. "Surely that can't be a good thing?" she thought to herself.

"Of course, I knew you had spirit blood in you as soon as I saw you. It's very weak of course, but I notice such things. Your spirit ancestor was probably four or five generations back."

"What?" said Chihiro. The Nygel looked down its nose at her.

"You mean you did not know?" Chihiro shook her head. It was at that moment that the presence in her head decided to take more than a passive interest in the conversation she was having. The water horse continued blithely on, obviously having no idea that he was being listened to so attentively.

"Well, it's unlikely you would have realised anything different about yourself until you came here. Think about it; falling in love with the spirit world as well as a dragon is not something your average human does." The water thought this made sense, but it was annoyed it had not noticed itself.

"So what does this mean?" asked Chihiro.

"Well, nothing really," said the water horse. "Except that your great, great, great, great, great, great grandmother or father is probably still alive, somewhere." Chihiro just stared at the horse; she had no idea what to think.

"Surely Haku would have noticed if what you say is true," she whispered. The presence in her head was insulted by her assumption, but the water horse put his hoof firmly in his mouth by saying,

"Your dragon is powerful but does not know everything; he has less experience with humans than I do and he possibly did not know what to look for. The spirit blood in your veins is thinned by at least five generations of pure human breeding." The horse whinnied a laugh. "Think of this as an interesting event in your family history and hope that no unexpected relatives turn up at your mating ceremony."

He screeched a whinny, obviously highly amused, but stopped when he saw Haku standing on the surface of the water not three feet from him. The Nygel's eyes rolled, and he stumbled backwards up the beach. Chihiro had to admit walking on water was a neat trick; it made him look very otherworldly. He crossed his arms and glared at the horse, his sopping wet hair was sticking to his face and his soaking wet clothes sticking to his body. Chihiro grinned; she was having trouble keeping her face straight.

"I hope you have not been bothering my mate, Nygel?" he said lightly, but his eyes burned with displeasure.

"N... not at all master," squealed the water horse.

"And yet you have been addressing her in a very familiar way. Surely you realise that Chihiro will be my mate soon and therefore, as far as you should be concerned, my equal in every way. You would do well not to presume to speak to her so casually."

The Nygel flattened its ears in what Chihiro thought was a display of temper; for one heart-stopping moment, she thought he was going to answer Haku back. He seemed to think better of it, however, and just nodded. Chihiro decided to rescue the poor water spirit. She gestured at Haku to come closer, when he was on dry land, she took his arm and kissed his cheek. As she did so she breathed in his ear.

"Leave him alone, Haku, it's not his fault he is more observant than you." Haku whipped around and treated her also to a green-eyed glare. "Even dragons should learn something new every day," she teased. A crooked smile crossed the dragon's lips.

"If you continue to be so impertinent I shall be forced to spank you," he mumbled low enough so only she could hear. Chihiro wound her arms around the river God despite his wet clothes and gave him a smouldering look from beneath her eyelashes.

"Do that, and I'll never sleep with you again," she purred. Haku laughed out loud, good-naturedly. The water horse took that moment to sneak away; Haku had forgotten about him anyway. He was relieved and indebted to the pretty human female; he liked her and looked forward to knowing her better, preferably when the river God was elsewhere.

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