Spirited Anew

Chapter 10

A world of nothingness for miles; free from light, just cracked earth beneath her feet and cold breezes. Chihiro walked along the land with bare feet, all alone in the darkness.

"Hello...?" She called out, turning her head back and forth. She brought her arms in close to her chest, still in her blue pajamas and freezing as she walked. "Is anyone there?" Her voice echoed and the remnants were swallowed by her dark surroundings.

She felt her teeth begin to clash and chatter; the girl was only wearing a blue t-shirt and blue pajama shorts. It got hot in her area after all. Though, the place was oddly familiar. She felt as if she had been there before...

That was when flurries of memories started sparking through her head like wildfire. Her bones shattering; Uma by her side the entire time, and the worst out of all of that...

"Sen."

Chihiro's eyes popped open and she spun around in fear. That voice was way too recognizable for comfort. It was exactly who she thought it was.

Yubaba stood behind her with the wildest grin, representing some form of a psychopath and a black cloak surrounding her body. The girl gasped and took a step back. The last place she ever wanted to be, and she was there. It literally had been three months since her last visit to the spirit world. How did she even get there in the first place?

Was it a dream?

"Sen! You're here!" She seemed to be excited for some reason. Then again, last time Chihiro was kidnapped and brought to the same godforsaken place. Chihiro shrunk back a bit when the old witch outstretched her arms. "You're finally here!" A devious smirk spread across her face; revealing some sort of dubious intent.

A cold and wrinkly hand wrapped it's fingers around Chihiro's wrist - it was then she knew it wasn't just a dream. The sensation was all too real. A chill thrived up her spinal chord and she yanked her hand back.

"Don't touch me!" She created some space between them and held her hands close to herself. "What do you want? Why am I here?"

"Sen... You don't want to see me? After everything I did for you!?" Yubaba growled under her breath, her stringy white hair beginning to rise in frustration under her hood.

"Did for me? You turned my parents into pigs! You tried to trap me forever!" The adolescent stomped her foot. "Take me back."

That was when the wind around them began to swirl, starting slowly, picking up the pace by each second. Chihiro didn't feel fear though, she was simply fed up right now. Something inside her chest told her she should be scared, though.

Yubaba looked as if she was about to explode under the shadow of her cloak, when suddenly she stopped. So did the wind around them. The brown-haired girl blinked her eyes and looked around. She was so sure something was just about to go down. What stopped her?

"Well... You owe me, don't you child...?" The old woman showed her smarmy smile and lifted a familiar glittering trinket between her long nails. It dangled tauntingly at the highschooler. Chihiro widened her eyes when she saw Zeniiba's special hair tie in the hands of the witch.

"What!?" She panicked and quickly moved her eyes from her now accessory-less wirst back to the eyes of the evil woman standing before her.

"Then, I'll guess I'll just take this!"

"No! Give it back!" Chihiro went and reached for it before Yubaba tried placing it inside of her cloak. The woman floated over to the side as a dodge and chuckled through her nose.

"Could this little stupid thing perhaps be... Important?"

Chihiro grit her teeth and balled her fingers into fists. She had completely forgotten about the cold at this point.