Spirited away 2

Chapter Six:

Silence spread through the room and Chihiro felt smug for the first time while standing in front of this older woman; she had been acting tough, but inside she was terrified. 

"You wanted to know why you should give me my job back?" she shrugged her shoulders before crossing her arms. She felt like she was playing a game of good cop, bad cop, only she was both people; Chihiro didn't know how she was coming acrossed so confident but a small part of her loved the feeling. "Well that's my reason, plus a few little birdies have told me that you've been missing me since I left." 

Yubaba's head immediately turned towards Yu-bird with a glare making the strange thing squawk loudly and fly away in fear. The both watched the bird before Yubaba growled in frustration. Now Chihiro wasn't so sure she was winning over the old woman. 

"Don't you put words in my mouth! Yes you're a good worker but you cost the Bathhouse millions with the No-Face incident." she smacked her hand down on the desk before pointing up to the now sweating young woman. "Don't think I haven't forgotten about that either Sen." A wicked smile crept onto her face when she noticed Chihiro flinch back.

"I didn't expect you to, but I sincerely apologize for the damages that he caused." she paused and grabbed her arm looking ashamed. "I thought that he was a customer who had gotten locked outside in the garden. I was only trying to preserve the business of the Bathhouse like you had taught me." Chihiro didn't meet the old woman's eyes as she spoke in a voice full of regret. 

Chihiro had wanted to apologize for the incident for the last twelve years, even if Yubaba was cruel and she hated her; she had been the one to mess up on that day. Chihiro sighed and shook her head feeling a little of the confidence from earlier coming back to play. 

"Even if it was my mistake on letting him in; everyone else thought he was a customer too! Including you!-" she paused as she pointed at the now baffled looking woman. "Plus I was the one who got him out safely too!" she huffed in a breath when rage covered Yubaba's face and she quickly stood slamming her hands down on the table.

"So what!" she snapped startling Chihiro slightly, but she didn't let her surprise show on her face at the woman's outburst. "That monster caused more damage than a bull would have in a fine china cabinet! He cleaned out the kitchen, got a free stay, and destroyed things all over the Bathhouse!" she exclaimed growling at the thought of the black spirit with a white and red mask. He had even had the nerve to offer fake gold his whole stay which had turned out to be dirt; useless dirt.

"And anther thing! It took me decades to obtain my sister's golden seal, and right when it's finally in my grasp!" she huffed in a breath and gabbed her finger at Chihiro angerly. "You go and return it to her!" Yubaba breathed out a long sigh before sitting back down in her chair heavily. This young girl had always had this affect on her; she thought Chihiro tired her out more than her son ever could. 

"Well first of all, that seal wasn't yours to steal! Zeniba is a wonderful woman who you should respect!" Yubaba watched as Chihiro also lashed out by gabbing her finger towards her. "Second of all, I thought returning the seal would save Haku's life! He was dying because you forced him to steal that stupid seal when you knew Zeniba had put a curse on it to keep you from taking it! If it weren't for me, Haku wouldn't have survived your stupid quest!" Chihiro growled loudly and stepped forwards to slap her hands down on Yubaba's desk just as the old woman had done. She just felt the overwhelming need to smack something when she was speaking to this witch. 

Yubaba grinded her teeth while watching Chihiro huff on the opposite side of her desk; she scanned the gems she had originally been counting and noticed that they were now completely out of order.

"The boy wouldn't have died! All he had to do was find me first, I had a plan!" she yelled watching as Chihiro continued to lean on her desk not showing any sign of moving. "And I think we both know that returning that seal was not what broke that curse!" Yubaba pinched the bridge of her nose when the young girl blushed a dark red color. 

"Then, above all else, you go and take away my apprentice! You gave him his name back and he went off on his own!" 

Chihiro couldn't believe what she was hearing, she had saved Haku by giving him his name; she was proud of that fact. She'd be damned if this woman was going to ruin her vision of that past emotional memory. With a stone cold look on her face she leaned in towards Yubaba more and spoke with a deep even voice. 

"You shouldn't be stealing a person's name regardless of the power it gives you over them; it's selfish and down right unfair." 

She paused not noticing the sweat starting to form on the old woman's brow; not that she would ever admit it but Chihiro had defiantly succeeding in being intimidating and scary. The woman had concluded that the girl most of had some horrible experiences in the human world that must have changed her tremendously. 

"Just answer me this; how can you convince me that another incident like that will never happen again?" Yubaba looked away from Chihiro's glaring face and began recounting her disorganized gems. 

The question startled Chihiro a little. Was the old woman giving in? Had she won the argument? Chihiro sure hoped so, she didn't like to be angry for longer than she had too.

"This time I plan on staying here; I'll make more of an effort to learn the ways of this world. Plus I am an adult, I know right from wrong and how to keep a job now Yubaba." 

Yubaba raised an eyebrow at her name but chose to ignore it for now. She was more interested in playing with Chihiro's emotions at that point in time.

"So you're planning on staying here then? In this world, without any family?" 

Before she could respond or think deeply about what the witch had said a loud obnoxious voice cut her off; though Chihiro was happy it was one she recognized. 

"MAMA!"

The voice traveled in from the large room off to the right; one she knew was full of pillows and large toys. Before either woman could react the door burst open and the biggest, fattest baby Chihiro had ever seen came waddling out. The boy looked as though he had just woken up from a nap; Chihiro couldn't help but smile at him.

"Mama, you're being too noisy!" he rubbed his eye as he spoke. "I'm trying to go nap-nap!" he declared while pointing at his mother who looked extremely nervous. She didn't want him to recognize the girl just yet; she hadn't decided if she was going to give her a job or not. 

"Oh Bo, go back to sleep baby; mommy's sorry she woke you." she quickly went to rush towards him and block his view of the smiling girl but just before she could usher him away the boy locked eyes with the brown haired girl. 

"Sen?" he quickly rubbed both of his eyes before looking back at her looking as though he had seen a ghost. When he confirmed that he was indeed seeing the girl he thought he was a giant smile stretched across his face. 

"Sen!" he rushed across the room and gathered her slim body in his large fat arms; he squeezed her tightly keeping her in a bare hug for multiple seconds before letting go but not stepping back from her. 

"I can't believe you came back! I've missed you so much!" he exclaimed happily making her chuckle nervously; Chihiro never was good with too much attention. She watched as Bo turned back towards his mother, completely unaware of the hostility that had been happening in the room, and smiled widely. "Look Mama! Sen came home!"

Yubaba smiled tiredly but inwardly laughed when she watched Chihiro rub her ribs, no doubt feeling crushed from Bo's hug earlier. 

"Yes, I see baby. Now why don't you run along, Mommy and Sen were having an important meeting." she tried to baby talk him into doing what she wanted but he merely turned back to Chihiro with a confused look on his large face.

"You're staying this time right Sen?" he asked hopefully. Chihiro looked from his pleading look to Yubaba's anguished expression and smirked. This was how she was going to end this once and for all. 

"I hope so Bo, but it all depends on if your mom is nice enough to give me my job back." 

When his large head whipped around to look at his mother Chihiro knew she had won, Yubaba never denied her son anything.