ImmediatelyWriting's One Shots

#25. Spirited Away - Haku/Chihiro) Going In Against The River's Flow

Summary: Haku didn't think he could follow Chihiro out into the human world. But he soon finds himself tagging along into the human world with the young girl and her parents.

Fandom: Spirited Away
Ship: Haku/Chihiro
Genre: Alternative Ending, Fluff
Warning: SPOILERS for the Spirited Away ending

part of Shipbruary 2021!

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"We don't have to say goodbye," Chihiro tells Haku when they're standing by the river. Haku knows he shouldn't be able to pass that empty river, no way, but Chihiro insists; her optimism taking over her rational thinking as she grabs Haku's hand.

She shouldn't be doing this, Haku knows that much; his curse isn't quite broken yet, he still has to talk to Yubaba and Chihiro should know that too. What if he crosses the barrier of the spirit world and disappears, he'll traumatize Chihiro; he should stay here.

"No." He stands there, rooted to the ground like a tree. "We do, Chihiro. I can't go with you."

Chihiro looks at him, her eyes filled with tears as both of them hear her parents yell in this distance. She has to leave, but Haku promises they'll meet again. As he watches her leave, he realizes he wants to go with her, he doesn't want to say goodbye. He and Chihiro will meet again, and the time is now.

He starts running as soon as she's nearing the tunnel in the distance.

"Chihiro!" he shouts, but she doesn't turn around as he told her not to. She doesn't even turn around as Haku follows them out through the tunnel, it's like she's forgotten all about him.

He stays out of her parents' sight, out of her sight, but eventually does end up following their car by foot. They drive fast and it's hard to keep up with the car as Haku has lost all of his spirit-powers; he can't even turn into a dragon anymore, and he doubts he's still a river spirit to begin with.

But eventually, after walking for almost an entire day, Haku reaches Chihiro's new house.

They've probably not done a lot after they came home yesterday. It's still messy and they clearly haven't really unboxed all their moving boxes as most of them are still stacked near the windows.

He walks up the door, a little wobbly on his feet, and knocks on the little window.

It lasts some time before the door opens. It's not who Haku expected to appear, but instead of her parents Chihiro's the one who immediately answers the door.

Her eyes stare into Haku's. She looks unfazed, like she doesn't recognize Haku.

It kind of hurts Haku actually; is it so easy to be forgotten, they've only parted ways just a day ago.

Just as he's about to walk away, Chihiro grabs his hand. Her small hands hold onto it tightly as she whispers, "What are you doing here, Haku?" She releases a small sob. "How?"

Haku turns back around to Chihiro again and shrugs. "I guess I'm human too now, I don't know, I just don't feel my spirit powers anymore."

Chihiro's face grows gloomy before she eventually smiles wide. She drags Haku inside of her house, Haku has no reason why until she tells him that for as long as he's human, he can live with her. "We just bought this huge house, so there's enough room." She gestures at the big empty hallway before looking at Haku over her shoulder. "I guess it's my time to make sure you don't feel alone."

Haku swallows thickly; was that really the job he had? Was that how he made her feel, like she wasn't all alone in that big spirit world? He never thought about it that way, he just wanted her to get back to the human world with her parents safely.

He thanks her silently before following the ten-year-old girl towards the living room, where her parents are sitting on the couch. They look extremely tired even though they're sleeping as we speak. Chihiro notes that since they left the spirit world all of them have felt exhausted.

Haku has felt drained since he left the spirit world himself, but he thought this is just how humans feel. Apparently not, because no one in Chihiro's house seems energetic.

Chihiro looks more energetic than her parents, but that's probably because she barely got in touch with magic other than Haku's magical food.

Food. Haku's eyes get bigger and he turns to Chihiro. "You need to eat, all of you." It always worked in the spirit world; giving people food let them go back to normal again, so maybe if Haku makes them a good meal everything will go back to normal.

Chihiro frowns, confused by the request. But Haku explains everything to her; that usually his cooking helps people regain their strengths, and that a good meal is always good to get your energy back. And after that explanation, Chihiro trusts Haku to make something good in the kitchen.

Haku saunters through the kitchen, searching for something he should be able to make. He makes it look like he knows what he's doing when he grabs a fry pan, a couple of eggs and butter, while in reality he's only ever used his powers to make food; he has never cooked or baked an egg before.

"What are you going to make?" Chihiro asks, peeking over Haku's shoulder at what he's doing.

"Sunny Side Up?" Haku hesitantly replies, before carefully tapping one of the many eggs against the counter until the shell cracks. "Do you have pepper and salt somewhere?"

Chihiro nods and walks to one of the few moving boxes that's been placed in the living room. She immediately starts searching through them, also putting the things she knows the place of in the cabinets while she's at it; Haku can really see that a couple of days in the spirit world made Chihiro a lot more independedly, because she's basically moving into this house without the help of her parents.

While she searches through the boxes, Haku breaks the egg into the fry pan; the yolk breaks, but that's not the biggest problem ever, he just needs to make sure it's well-done before he takes It out.

"Found it!" Chihiro shouts after clearing out an entire box. She walks up to Haku and hands him the pepper and salt so he can top the egg off with them, which he does right away.

And they go on like that for quite a long time. Haku makes five Sunny Side Up eggs for each person, including himself. Even though not all are perfectly made like his previous baked goods, Haku's proud of himself. When Haku lets the last egg slide from the pan onto a plate, Chihiro has just finished unpacking all boxed that had previously been standing in the kitchen.

"Ready for lunch?" Haku asks, holding up two of the filled plates. "I'm sure it'll get your energy back to normal." With so many Sunny Side Up eggs there's no way not to.

Chihiro gets on her feet and nods enthusiastically.

She carries the other two plates to the living room, where her two parents are slowly but surely starting to wake up by half past two in the afternoon. Their eyes have barely opened when they spot Haku standing next to Chihiro in their living room.

"W-Who are you?" Chihiro's mother stammers, sitting upright with wide open eyes.

Haku bows deeply for Chihiro's parents and introduces himself. He doesn't look up at them, because for once he feels like he actually has to bow to someone; he just wandered into their house after all.

"He's my friend," Chihiro tells her parents, and it feels like Haku's heart skips a beat. He never would've thought Chihiro saw him as a real friend.

"I made you some food," Haku says, presenting the plates of food. "You looked really tired."

They seem happy now, and while eating they even agree with Haku starting to live with them if he cooks for them from time to time. Haku thinks to himself about how some humans really are just pigs, but deep down he's very glad that he can stay with Chihiro; he won't ever feel alone again.