SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO RETURNS

Departing in Sorrow

Chihiro P.O.V

They were pretty much ready to leave, she was almost sad to leave the poor lonely tengu behind, but they have a goddess to find. It was a very quiet morning, a bit too quiet, the air felt thick, and she couldn't help but feel there was some kind of strain between the three of them, even worse than before, Shigeru was acting weird and wasn't his usual talkative sarcastic self, and even Haku was more quiet than usual. Did something happen that she didn't know about? you could cut the tension with a knife, did they have a fight? She sighs and decides to give them some space by letting the issue go, for now, they really needed to get going. They were about to leave through the exit that Judas made for them when his voice rung out...

 "Wait I forgot to give you something Chihiro!" he says coming up to Haku's side, who was now in his dragon form ready to take off "here take these, I made them for you, they are advanced medicines, they may come in handy, I just wanted to give you guys a parting gift..." he says smiling.

She smiles at the tengu and bows alongside Shigeru and Haku "thank you Judas, we will meet again, I promise" she says, and just like that they were off flying through the sky once again following the directions they were given.

The ride was quiet...and there was still tension between them, she doesn't know whats going on but she is determined to find out, Haku and Shigeru hadn't said a single word it was driving her crazy. She just can't understand, Haku was so excited yesterday and now its like he was void of any emotion at all...he was being Master Haku, as for Shigeru, he was dead silent he wasn't being himself, he seemed stressed and perhaps a bit depressed. That's it, shes had enough.

"Oh my god I can't stand this anymore!!!" she cries out taking the two silent spirits by surprise, Shigeru gasped and jumped, and Haku hissed and his mane flared up then went back down "I may be human but even I can sense the god-awful tension in the air not to mention you guys haven't said a word to me since we woke up! It's driving me crazy! what the hell is wrong with the two of you!? Did I do something wrong? What is it?" she says frantically.

Shigeru and Haku sigh but then suddenly Haku's voice was in her head "Sorry Chihiro...I promise you it isn't you, you didn't do anything wrong, I'm sorry for making you so worried my love, its just that...well its hard to explain, and I don't know if I should... I don't know if it is for me to tell...and I'm sorry I haven't been speaking, I'm just trying to control myself right now, I'm angry, but not at you, yet at the same time, I feel sad, almost sympathetic...its... it's just complicated Chihiro. We will talk about it later I promise, though I think you should talk to Shigeru, he would be better to ask" Haku explained, his voice sounding strained.

What is this? She looks back at Shigeru who was looking around awkwardly, then when he finally met her gaze he gave her a small smile "sorry Chi, I didn't mean to make you worry...don't worry you didn't do anything bad, its just..." suddenly Shigeru takes a big breath as if he was fighting some battle, she could tell he was in turmoil "Chi...We need to talk...but not right now okay..." he says his voice straining also.

She had a weird feeling about this, she knew that Shigeru held some kind of interest in her...but...oh god something tells her things were about to get really complicated...however she just nods at her dear friend...she hoped it wasn't what she feared it would be, he was her best guy friend and she cared for him, he has gone through so much, she didn't want to hurt him but...she didn't feel the same at all...she loves Haku....Haku...does he know what is going to happen? does he know whats going on with Shigeru? she guesses that if it was what she thinks it is then it suddenly makes sense why Haku is acting weird too.