Spirited Away: The Wait [ORIGINAL]

The Knife of Betrayal

     Haku and Chihiro arrived at the bathhouse in no time; apparently the shelter was pretty near Swamp Bottom. At the entrance, a crowd of spirits greeted both of them enthusiastically, evidently having missed them, or more specifically, Haku. Chihiro quietly stepped away as Haku was engaged in small conversation by some of the younger spirits, and smiled to herself as she observed the way he was so tender and kind with them. He would make a great father, she reckoned.

     Immediately after thinking that, blood rushed to her face as she mentally slapped herself.

     “Hey there, Chihiro!” called a certain phoenix spirit, with his arms extended as he ran towards her dramatically. The look of glee on his face almost made him appear drunk.

     “Shou! How’re you doing?” The woman gladly hugged him back, though after that he didn’t want to let go. “What are you doing?”

     “Nothing. Just, you know, enjoying the friendly hug. Anyway, I have some free time for now; the busy period is over, so we could hang out and talk about things.” Chihiro grimaced at the tone; Shou was probably going to shoot questions like a machine gun about what had happened between her and Haku. She should have expected that.

     “What about Haku? You’re not going to hang out with him too?”

     “Nah, he has a few things to settle here, so in the meantime, the plan is for you to stick with me.”

     Plan. Suspicion rose in her. Nothing ever good came out of a plan that Shou contributed in thinking of. What were the two of them hiding now? Never mind that, she’d just play along. It wasn’t as if they would tell her anything if she asked. Maybe she’d do some snooping around and catch them in the act.

     “Alright then. Now, will you let go of me?” hissed Chihiro in his ear.

     Suddenly, she was thrown back, and for a moment she thought Shou had deliberately pushed her away, until she realized Haku was standing behind her with an arm around her shoulder. “Shou…”

     “Haku! It’s been too long! I’ve missed you so much! Come, let me kiss you and do all that stuff great-grandmothers do when they see their great-grandchildren after a long time,” Shou said with a little roll of his eyes and a teasing smirk.

     “Shou said you have some things to attend to, so why don’t you go ahead first? I’ll be staying with him until you’re done. That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

     Haku’s gaze shifted from her to Shou and he narrowed his eyes at the blonde. “Did you tell her something?”

     “I didn’t, I swear. Woman, you have some serious trust issues, we must talk more about this bad habit of yours over some tea, it can’t be good for your health” Shou chided in a poorly mimicked motherly tone and then proceeded to drag Chihiro away by the arm towards the mess hall. “See you later, dragon!” he called behind him, and Chihiro gave a little wave in Haku’s direction before hitting Shou to make him let go of her. She couldn’t walk properly with the way he was handling her.

     They managed to find a seat quite quickly, and Chihiro opted from plain water; she was still incredibly stuffed after spending some time at Zeniba’s house eating plate after plate of food, despite numerous pleas to stop with the intake of sugary snacks. Sometimes Chihiro likened Zeniba to the witch in Hansel and Gretel, though she was definitely not going to cook young, foul-smelling humans and eat them for dinner anytime soon.

     Shou was drinking a cup of steaming hot tea. He leaned back in his seat and interlaced his fingers, resting them on his lap. “So, how has it been with Haku? I hear things weren’t going so well between the two of you.”