Haku is surrounded by total darkness -- still, quiet, and endless. He tries to spread his arms and swim out of this accursed place, where he knows there is nothing but death. But he couldn't move, couldn't see nor hear anything. He screams. From the deepest recesses of his divine soul. No sound comes out of it.

Maybe he is already dead.

Or is thrown to and lost in a limbo that encapsulates mad spirits -- punishing them to live forever in darkness for the horrors they did against humans.

Or maybe a monk or a priest had finally defeated him, despite him being a god. Maybe the townspeople had finally discovered that he was punishing them for what they had done to him and asked someone to vanquish him.

But he doesn't deserve it.

All he did was for a cause. Humans should learn to not disrespect, to fear, and to serve the gods once more. Like how they did before. Someone must teach them a lesson. And that is him.

But, now, does that matter?

Does all of it matter?

He's helpless, floating in some void he cannot escape. He shouts again, louder, deeper, but his voice doesn't reach his ears, doesn't reach anyone's ear.

Then, a flicker of a faint light suddenly shows in front of him. There is a way out of this terrible darkness after all. A tiny bead of hope swells inside his heart.

"Haku!" It says, calling his name in a familiar female voice. "Haku!"

He swims towards it, using all of the strength he could muster.

Very slowly it's getting near.

"Haku!"

Oh, how he loves to hear her call his name.

"Haku!"

At last, he's now so close to it. With his hands, he reaches out to the light and--

"Haru-san!"

Haku opens his eyes. He's out of the seemingly endless limbo. In front of him is a crying Senko, bound with a rope tied around her fragile body and couldn't use her tiny hands to wipe away the tears that flow down from her brown eyes.

"I-I don't know what happened. H-how we ended here. Was it me?" She's trembling, both afraid and guilty. "I'm so sorry!" Looking at the distressed figure of the girl, Haku forgets how annoyed he was with her before.

"Calm down," he says and looks around to see where they are at. No use panicking. He should first make sense of what is happening. The four of them are tied and at a table in an enormous dimly lit kitchen with gigantic cooking utensils and a large sink. The big pots and other kitchen tools are properly placed on large metal shelves. On one side of the room is a pot on a stove cooking some kind of a nice-smelling soup. The two human kids they saw earlier near the cave are playing with some plants on the other side of the room. Haku groans. "We're in the house of Glutton Giants, spirit-eaters."

"Spirit-eaters?"

"They are giants who were formed by the gluttonous desires of the humans. They eat nothing but spirits." He motions his head towards the playing children. "They lure spirits with the humans they captured. Those two were doused by the pollen of Nemurinemuru flower. It is scentless but very effective to induce sleep to any spirit." He's surprised that he woke up soon.

Senko gasps. "So it's my fault after all. T-they're going to eat us!"

'Not you', he thinks. 'You're human.' Glutton Giants cannot digest humans. "Let's be calm," he says to Senko then looks at Jaariko and Lin. "Let's wake them up and think of a way to get away from here." There is no way he'll let the Glutton Giants or anyone kill him here.

Senko's face is red and swollen with her crying. "You're right." Trembling, she sniffs back her tears. "But I already tried to wake them up. Only you woke up."

"Let's try again. I'll wake up Aki. You wake up Rinko."

Haku nudges Jaariko's side with his elbow calling, "Wake up! You need to wake up!"

"Don't go away pretty lady, I'm not weak." The tengu furrows his eyebrows as he mutters in his sleep. Haku shakes him harder and almost shouts in his ears but his eyes won't open and he continues to be in deep slumber.

Haku looks at Senko and sees that it is impossible to wake up Lin too. If only Senko was the one asleep and not Jaariko, he could just use his powers to free them all and defeat the giants. But Senko is awake and it would be a great risk to let her see how powerful he is. Lin would know from her that he is like a god and might suspect that he is not who he says he is.

The huge door creaks open. The fear in Senko's eyes tugs something inside the river god. There. There is that feeling again that he felt when he first saw her -- some kind of a 'pull' towards her. "Pretend to sleep," he tells her as he sits beside her and lets her lean on his body. She's still trembling.

He convinces himself that he's doing this just because he feels that he must protect the girl. He needs her alive.

Sitting close beside him, he takes in how delicate she is.

Although she was able to save him before.

Remembering what happened on the muddy ground, Haku is surprised that his wounded pride seems to leave him slowly as the human girl's trembling figure squeezes towards him in fright.

It is her voice, he realizes, that called him out of the unending darkness.

"Listen," he whispers, "the giant is alone. He'll most likely take a knife and slice us into pieces before cooking us in the cauldron. Glutton Giants care most about their meals. When he comes close, I will distract him while you use the knife to cut the rope binding your body. We only have one chance so give it your best."

He feels Senko nod.

Through half-closed eyes, he fixes his gaze on their enemy. The giant is around 20 feet tall and as fat as two elephants. He wears nothing but dried leaves covering only his privates and he reeks of blood and rotten flesh.

Senko's breaths are deep and even. She doesn't dare look at the huge creature before them. Perhaps, she's doing her best not to scream in terror.

The floor creaks. The giant carries a knife he picked up from one of the shelves, but he doesn't bring it close to them. He leaves it at the table far away from them.

Damn.

Haku curses. It'll be hard for him to distract the spirit-eater for a very long time. It might not be enough for Senko to run towards the knife and cut the rope binding her. The girl must've felt his distress because she slightly opens her eyes and shifts her weight beside him.

"What's the matter, Haru-san?" She whispers softly. The giant is getting near them.

"He's not bringing the knife close to us," he whispers back and then goes quiet when he hears the footsteps of the giant grow louder and quicken towards them. He hopes that both he and Senko do their jobs well. But if they can't, then he'll have no choice but to fight the big creature with his true strength. He'll think of an excuse to say to the two girls later.

Booming laughter echoes inside the enormous room. The giant sings in an off-tune voice, "Four spirits. Four spirits. I'm hungry but I have four spirits." This close, Haku can smell the putrid breath of the dirty creature. "Who would I choose first?" One of his hands descends to Haku.

When it's near enough, the river God exclaims, "Now!"

As fast as she can, Senko runs to the knife lying on the other side of the table. She almost trips but manages to reach it.

Haku dodges the giant's grip. Annoyance is apparent on the creature's chubby face. "Why you not asleep? I don't want meal not asleep." The giant growls, his hands getting faster as they chase Haku on the large table.

"Sen! Are you done yet?" The river spirit is panting. He's actually losing breath against an entity he could defeat in five seconds. But he needs to be as convincing as he could in the girls' eyes.

"I'll untie them!" At last, he hears Sen shout. She runs back to their group and starts untying Lin's binds.

"No need we would need to carry them anyway!"

Sen waits until Haku reaches them. Quickly, she unties the rope around Haku as the big monster strides towards them.

"Bad! Bad meal!" Pissed, the big creature has a deep frown on his ugly face as he towers in front of his victims. "Meal no need cook then! Meal eat raw!"

With lightning speed, his mouth hovers above Haku, his teeth only a few inches away from biting on the river god's head. Haku is about to cast a spell against the big creature when he feels someone push him away and he hears the sound of bones cracking. Blood stains his face and clothes -- human blood.

+0+0+0+0+

"Argh!" Chihiro screams her heart out. Her left hand is torn away from her arm, bitten by the teeth of the hungry giant. Blood oozes from the injury and her broken bone juts out from it. She topples over and screams once more in pain.

This time, Meilin-san wakes up from her deep sleep. "What-- Sen!" Free from the rope that was once binding her, she immediately goes beside the wounded Chihiro and half hugs the human's body. "What on earth is happening?" Chihiro sees the white fox look at the giant before them. He has swallowed Chihiro's tiny hand. "G-G-Glutton Giant!" Meilin-san exclaims.

For some reason, the frightening giant's body is swaying uncontrollably, eyes looking unfocused and hands clutching his big, round, bare stomach. He looks disoriented.

"Rinko, Aki, we need to get out of here!" Haru-san speaks. "This is our chance." Aki-san is also awake now. He touches his head and looks at their surroundings. He must be still half awake. "No time." Haru-san helps him get up.

The four run along the big table, Chihiro cradling her injury with her other arm. Blood trickles down to the table, leaving a trail.

"T-the kids!" Chihiro manages to say despite her pain.

"What kids?" Meilin-san doesn't look at her, too focused on the open door a few meters away from them.

But Chihiro stops walking and points at the human kids sitting on the floor on the other side of the room "P-please." She looks at Haru-san, then she loses consciousness due to the pain.

+0+0+0+0+

He was saved by her again. For the second time. Just what is this human girl? He's supposed to be the powerful one -- the mighty terrifying deity, but twice she had helped and saved him. Yes, he could've defeated the enemy easily but that would be a risk to his disguise. Sen had saved him from an unwanted situation.

And now she pleads that he save the two human kids who had lured them into the hands of the Glutton Giant who doesn't want anything else but to make them his breakfast.

It is her eyes though -- those clear brown orbs -- that Haku cannot resist.

Damn.

Haku curses again but for a different reason.

Where did his pride go?

Is he already becoming used to this kind of situation?

Maybe because Senko is different.

And he'll find out what makes her different.

They're a few feet away from the door when he speaks. "I'll get the human kids. Run as fast as you can towards the sun."

Fine, he'll do as she wishes, then he and Sen are quits.