SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO RETURNS

Reaching the Border

After their short break they were off again, however, there was a noticeable difference, Shigeru wasn't behind her riding on Haku. When they got back the two spirits were a chaos, Haku couldn't help but confront Shigeru's actions, and refused him the right on riding on him, which meant he had to run along after them on the ground carrying the food he caught. She was a little against it, but she was a little annoyed with her friend too, not as mad as Haku obviously but still enough to let him be punished in some way.

They have been on the move again for a while now, she thinks she counted this as the 4th hour of flying since their break. All up they have been flying for about 8-9 hours since they left Shigeru's grandmothers, being alone with Haku was great but after a while, they ran out of things to talk about...suddenly Haku goes rigid and tense.

"Haku... is everything okay..."Her voice trails off as she takes in a heavy aura, in the distance she sees a large clearing with a tree smack bang in the middle of it, it wasn't an overly big one but it was quite a sight to behold, the tree was bright and green on their side but of the other it wasn't quite dead but you could definitely mistake it for being dead, the contrast was vast. Our side was bright and healthy but on the other side of the tree, everything was dark and uninviting, foggy, the grass going passed the tree was both dead and alive as if it was fighting to survive the harsh environment.

"Woah..." she whispers to herself.

As they got closer, they descended and landed on their side of the clearing, she gets off her dragon cautiously looking out at whats beyond the border, it was amazing yet extremely creepy at the same time. She didn't realize she was unconsciously walking closer to it until Haku grabbed her wrist, she looks back at him she could tell he was on edge, his eyes alert constantly looking for danger.

"Don't wander off stay close to me, this place is very dangerous" Haku explains seriously.

"Okay..." she says as she stands by his side and hugs his arm, a little creeped out then suddenly something dawned on her "Haku...how did you know how to get to this place, you don't seem to be the type to venture out this far..." she asks him.

Suddenly he stiffens at her question..." your right I'm not..." was all he replied to her with...he clearly was hiding something from her...suddenly he speaks up again, looking up at the sun beginning to fall making the sky a pretty pink and orange "we should make camp here and then pass the border in the morning...its not safe on that side after dark..." he squeezes her hand looking seeming distant as he looked out at the vast dark land that we will have to cross into and then looks back at her his eyes softening on her, but she wasn't fooled "stay here okay, I will put up another barrier...I promise no matter what happens, I will protect you" he says bringing her hand that he was holding to his lips.

"Don't forget about me!!" Shigeru's voice rung out from behind them they look behind them to see Shigeru exhausted "jeez dragon could you fly any faster? I could barely keep up with you!! don't forget I'm the one with most of your food supply!" he sneers at him.

"Well, clearly I wasn't flying fast enough because you still made it here..." Haku retorts back...

"Guys that's enough, I thought you guys said you would try to get along better? Or at least be civil" she says pouting at them.

Shigeru tilts his head to the side "but Chi I am being civil, I'm always like this remember, the only person I really get along well with is you, I treat everyone apart from you this way, so, therefore, this is me being as civil as I can be, normally I am a lot worse".

She rolls her eyes at the fox and then looks at her beloved Haku who was looking Shigeru with his calm unreadable Master Haku mask, she puts a hand on his arm gaining his attention, a small smile teasing his lips as his eyes soften.