Spirited Anew

Chapter 1

She was spacing outside the window beside her. Not even aware of her surroundings. Chihiro still remembered the day she left the bath house and was free from Yu-baba. After they got home, the movers had already placed everything in the house. Her parents were confused, because they didn't realize they were gone for several days.

Chihiro hadn't thought about her life at the bath house in a long time. Every now and then she would stop and think about it; how No Face was doing with Granny Zeniiba, if Rin ever boarded the train, if Kamaji was still as stubborn as ever, and especially how Haku was doing. She thought about him more than anyone there. She always wondered if he ever escaped from Yu-baba. She wondered what he was doing, if he was okay... It would worry her since she hadn't seen him for 5 years. but she always told herself he was strong enough; even against Yu-baba.

A familiar face of a teenage girl with short black hair bent over in Chihiro's face, calling her name.

"Chihiiiirroooo! You there?"

Chihiro jumped back in her chair dramatically in shock. It was her friend, Marika Ayanokouji. "Mari-chan you scared me." She sighed with relief.

"Whaaat? I've been calling you for about a minute or two now." Marika got up in Chihiro's face again... It was her weird way of expressing her concern for her.

Chihiro leaned back more the closer Marika got to her. "S-sorry..."

Marika sighed. "You always do this every once in awhile. What is it that you get so caught up with?"

"I-It's nothing!" Chihiro quickly and nervously responded. She had a bad habit if speed talking when she was nervous.

Marika and Chihiro's head turned when they heard the laughter of a teenage boy walk in the classroom, followed up by several 'Good Mornings' from his classmates. He was tall for a Japanese boy, his hair almost shoulder length and bleached out. He seemed to be very popular with the girls. His name was Shiratori Yamada.

Marika looked at Chihiro, who was staring at Shiratori. She grinned. "Is that who you think about every so often?"

Chihiro turned to her nervously. "No no no!" She waved her arms furiously in front of her face before hiding in her shoulders. "That's not it..." A slight blush fell upon her cheeks.

"Yeah right. Liar" Marika stuck her tongue out at Chihiro before getting up to go greet some of her classmates.

Chihiro really wasn't lying. But what was she supposed to say to Marika? That she went to a spiritual realm where her parents were turned into pigs, her name was changed, a river spirit that saved her life years ago that turned into a dragon help her get out and she was worried about him? Not going to happen.

Though it was true Chihiro had a crush on Shiratori for a long time. They were really good friends when she first went into her new elementary school. She was a little unique and odd to the other kids. And because of that, she was picked on quite often. Shiratori befriended her, and after that they did everything together, everyday. She started crushing on him big time when they got into middle school. But something strange started happening. He started pulling away from her and leaving her behind. By the time they got to 8th grade, they stopped talking completely. Even so, she still had a crush on him. It was something she couldn't help. Even in her current time, she wished it would just go away. But even Chihiro knew it wasn't that easy.

Chihiro stopped wearing her hair up before they graduated elementary school. Shiratori kept bugging her to wear it down. He claimed she'd look prettier. And for most of the time, she was able to reject his demands. She didn't want to stop wearing the headband, because Granny Zeniiba gave it to her. But once she realized she had a crush on Shiratori, she started growing her hair out and wearing it down. She started using the hair tie as a bracelet instead, and hasn't changed it since.