Spirited Away: I, The Sacrifice

~Unforeseen Friendship~

Chapter IV

Revised 6-22-16

A new day had finally come! Before Yuuko had the chance to nag her daughter awake, Chihiro was already up and getting dressed. Today would be an easy day for Chihiro, since all she had to do was water the garden like she had yesterday. No laundry, cleaning, or cooking for her to do.

"Good morning early bird," greeted Akio – Chihiro's father. The daughter smiled while tying a sash around her waist.

"Good morning dad." Chihiro sat on her knees next to her father and made herself a small breakfast. Looking around, Yuuko was nowhere to be found.

"She's outside," Akio informed as if he sensed Chihiro's wonder. The two ate silently enjoying their small breakfast, until Akio suddenly spoke up. "So"-he began-"I heard from your mother last night, that you plan to marry?"

Nearly choking on her food, Chihiro blushed without making eye contact. "Um... yea," she awkwardly mumbled out.

Akio stretched and rubbed his full belly. "That's my girl, all grown up now," he said ruffling her tangled hair. "Try to do something fun today!" Waving each other goodbye, Akio disappeared outside the house though you could hear him talking among a group of men.

Left alone in her home, Chihiro decided to get her chore done early so she could relax the rest of the day. Though first, she finished her breakfast and went to tie up her hair that she forgot to do when getting dressed. The tangles got in the way and looked tacky, so Chihiro ran her fingers through her hair until most were gone. Using her old faded pink ribbon, Chihiro tied the long strands against the base of her skull and out of her way.

"I'm off," she announced to no one. The two buckets outside her home were seized while Chihiro slipped on her sandals. Looking up to the sky, she noticed the sun was hidden behind fluffy cumulonimbus clouds which made today a lot cooler than yesterday, but the humidity was still dense. Either way, Chihiro enjoyed the weather so she took the path away from the forest down to the river.

Ame – the merchant from yesterday, saw Chihiro strolling by and waved with a gentle smile while her current customer was busy picking out produce. Raising one of her arms, she waved back with a bucket high in the air. Returning her arm back to her side, Chihiro almost bumped into a huge crowd of people! They were all huddling around the merchants and blocking her way to the river. "Excuse me," Chihiro breathed out as a few folks got out of her way.

It was hectic, Chihiro didn't know why everyone was out today. "I wonder what it'll be this year." Chihiro overheard two women chatting and stopped to look over in their direction. "I bet he'll ask for a human." One said with big eyes, obviously trying to scare the other. "We'll find out in a few days but I heard..." The girls stopped talking when they noticed Chihiro was eavesdropping and scowled at her. Scurrying away with her heart racing, Chihiro had to make sense of what they said.

Then she realized it was about time for the yearly sacrifice!

All the villagers bought food and accessories for the festival held on the day of the sacrifice. But even though it was called a sacrifice, for about seventy-five years now the God hasn't demanded anything living. The last being quite a few livestock that were presumably fatally ill... it angered many of the villagers when they found out. When Chihiro heard the story from her parents it bewildered her to know that people would leave their animals so sick and suffering and try to feed their meat to others for money. It was selfish of them, not to mention dangerous for the people who would eventually eat the meat. Though lately the God has asked for less and less, as if it was a nuisance, Chihiro wondered what it would be this year.