Spirited Away 2 : A Promise to Keep (Fan made)

Nine

Chihiro carefully and slowly steps down the treacherous wooden steps that clinged to the side of the bathhouse. She had gone down them before, but they still terrified her. I mean, who would have stairs up so high and not put in railings!? She would've just gone through bathes, but Lin was there at the moment, and would probably force her to help her. And she needed to make a visit to Kamaji so he would know she was here.
~~~~~~Time skip brought to you by our sponsors~~~~~~
Hot steam burst up from the pipes lining the walls, worsening the already humid air. Tanks of all shapes and sizes filled up the area, leaving just a small path forward. Chihiro held up the neck of her shirt to her nose, it was hard to breathe. She finally made it to the edge of the hallway into the main room where Kamaji was, but she didn't say hi just yet. She leaned against the wooden arch separating the two areas, trying to catch her breath from holding it so long. Now she could say hi. The girl stepped down into the room, making sure not to step on any of the soot spirits crawling along the floor holding large pieces of coal. Kamaji banged a wooden hammer on the side of his post, "Take a break!" And all the little spirits dropped their coal and went back into the holes in the wall. He hadn't noticed her yet. As he started eating the ramen Lin had left him earlier, Chihiro took a deep breath then glanced down at the necklace with her name on it.
"U-um.." She said timidly

"Huh? Who's there?" Came his gruff voice, and he looked around frantically until he spotted the girl looking up at him. He peered closer so that he was a few feet away from her face, and adjusted his glasses. "And who might you be?"
"It's ch-Sen...." Her voice was barely audible, she didn't know why he intimidated her so much, perhaps it was because she hadn't seen him in so long.
"What's that? Speak up."

"It's Sen." His eye brows raised, and he adjusted his glasses again.

"Sen? I would've thought you would be busy with work, what made you come down here?" Kamaji climbed out of his post and sat next to it on the raised platform.

"You knew I was here?"

"Of course I do. Lin cones down here everyday to give me my food, do you think she would just brush such a big topic off, you know she cares about you."

Chihiro smiled, of course she does. She sat on the ledge near Kamaji, and he continued talking.

"So you've grown? That's quite strange, I thought you liked being a child, reckon you still are though. Is it a common choice in your realm to grow?"

"Choice? It isn't a choice, we just do. We don't have a say in the matter." She said.

"Ah. That must be a terrible burden. Spirits can chose whatever age they like."

"You chose to be your age then..?" She gave a puzzled look. Kamaji sighed.

"Yubaba cast a spell on me to turn me into an old man when I was doing poorly on my job. I can't grow younger yet I can't age up. I learned to deal with it." He glanced over at his post, strange, he thought. I'm not getting any requests for water. They both looked up suddenly. There was a commotion in the bathes. Kamaji brushed it off, Chihiro looked up for longer but eventually cast it aside as well.

"So, did Haku chose to grow?" She asked, he had grown at the same rate as her. His hair was longer, his features more defined. Kamaji smiled,

"As a matter of fact he did. Such a nice kid, he knew you were growing and he knew if he were to see you again he'd have to as well. I wouldn't mind be surprised if he asked you to the lotus festival."

"Lotus festival?" She was just about to ask about it, but was cut off by loud thumps coming from the level above.

"Oh, what is it now?!" Kamaji yelled, someone was running towards the small wooden door in the corner. Chihiro stood quickly to face it, it opened quickly to reveal a painting, yet smiling Lin.

"Sen!" She shouted, and climbed into the room.

"Lin- hi!" She said, surprised. Lin grabbed her hands.

"Gosh I finally found you. You will not believe what's happening, come on I'll show you!"

"Ah!" She pulled Chihiro toward the door in a jog, then crouched down to open it.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Kamaji used after them

"Can it boiler man! We can't miss this!" And with that, Lim pulled her into the hall towards the bathes.