Spirited Away Fanfiction: Chihiro is 20 and at university. Her brush with the Spirit World still influences her life today. She is trying hard to fit in with the "real world", but she is finding this difficult and the cracks are starting to show
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After the brilliantly lit ferry had disgorged its contents of spirits, and they had taken solid form, and started meandering towards the bathhouse, other spirits started moving onto the dumpy vessel. Chihiro let herself be swept along with them. Soon the ferry was packed to its gunnels with a wide variety of spirits. Chihiro was touched by the turnout, there must have been a hundred people on board including, Rin, Linca, Bou, Yubaba, Zeniba, Kamaji, Bee-la, Meeka and many other faces that she recognised, even the kindly radish spirit had squeezed his way on. She had not seen Haku on the ferry, but she was sure he was there.
The ride was only about thirty minutes long, but there was a kind of party atmosphere onboard; hardly surprising since many of the spirits were getting a few hours off work. Chihiro sat among all this merriment and tried not to worry. She was aware however that even though she was hiding it well, her nerves were fraying fast. Someone started to sing a ditty.
On the plain, we travel again,
On the ferry we are merry,
On the railroad, we will never get old,
Those of us who fly touch the sky.
We are the spirits of the plain,
Our power shall never wane,
We will reign supreme,
Because we are more than we seem...
This was sung with great hilarity and most were laughing so much the words slurred into each other. Nerves jangling Chihiro decided to slip away before they launched into a second verse. It was not that the song was particularly bad, but the tenuous rhymes made her cringe and she could not join in with the other spirits fun, sooner or later someone would notice her black mood and attempt to correct it. Chihiro did not want to be forced to feel better; it was perfectly natural to be scared.
She tiptoed out onto the deck at the side of the ferry and held onto the railings. She looked out at the black water sliding by and she tried to calm her growing anxiety.
"It's alright Chihiro, you're just going to meet the most powerful spirits in this world." She thought. "I am going to try and convince what are effectively Gods that I am worthy enough to live among immortals. Who am I kidding! This is never going to work; I'm just a stupid little insignificant human!"
"I thought I might find you brooding out here." Said a calm masculine voice. Chihiro did not turn around to look at the speaker; instead, she lent her elbows on the rail and rested her chin in her hands.
"Great, the last thing I need is to talk to him, that will help my focus about as much as a serious brain injury would." She thought sourly. Finely boned hands settled either side of her elbows on the rail. Strong arms framed her body. She could feel his warmth behind her back, but he did not touch her.
