Spirited away 2

Chapter Nine:

As Chihiro had figured, Lin was not at all happy about being dragged into the young human's punishment. Lin had left during their conversation earlier so that she wouldn't get dragged into the scene they were creating; Chihiro had tracked her down to tell her that she had to help with the 'big tub'.

"You're being more trouble than your worth Sen." Lin grumbled not at all caring about calling her by the wrong name; she was too annoyed to care at that very moment. She was currently leaning against the far wall with a mop type thing in her hands while Chihiro was down on her hands and knees scrubbing away at the mountains of filth that had built up from the last customer.

"She's just getting back at me for talking to Bo about something she didn't want him to know; it's not that big of a deal. But I am sorry I got you involved." Chihiro looked over her shoulder at her lazy friend and smiled apologetically. It was the truth, she did feel bad for getting Lin involved with her punishment; though she didn't like they way Lin was acting now. Annoyed or not, Chihiro didn't think she deserved it.

"Well next time how about you think before you mess around with your boss's son." Lin growled ignoring the embarrassed blush that had creeped onto Chihiro's cheeks. It sounded so wrong to her, and she hoped no one else would be able to hear Lin's loud mouth and get the wrong idea. Bo was just a baby after all. Chihiro didn't remember Lin being someone that she didn't get along with as a child; she was afraid that now that she was grown, her and Lin would bump heads more than she would like.

"It's not like that Lin and you know it. He's just a baby. Besides, this isn't so bad; it kinda reminds me of our first job together." Chihiro tried to smile but ended up giving a fake one when Lin merely rolled her eyes in response.

"This day honestly couldn't get any worse." Lin grumbled to herself irking the young human even more. Chihiro knew that today was going to be a long, long day.

.......

Two brother mountain spirits made their way through the food stalls in the direction of the Bathhouse; the oldest brother was very tall, with green grass spread all over its body resembling hair. The tippy top of his head was covered in beautiful looking snow; he looked like a normal, healthy, beautiful mountain. The youngest brother was shorter, smaller in size, and little to no grass spreading around its body; if there was some, it was brown and dead. The younger brother leaned against the oldest as they walked through the small town; he couldn't quite stand on his own. His face looked nothing like his brothers, there was no peace, no snow, no beauty; he looked angry, and in pain.

"We're almost there brother, just hang on a little longer." the oldest pleaded as he supported the weight of his sibling. "You'll feel much better after this." he promised.

The younger brother glared heatedly at the healthy mountain as he coughed. "I can't believe you drug me all this way just to go to this dump!" They paused their walk as he coughed heavily and struggled to breathe. The oldest brother stared at his sibling in as he struggled to catch his breath, it hurt him to see his brother in so much pain.

"Brother, this 'dump' is the best bathhouse available to us. Please give it a chance; you'll feel much better after a good bath." he assured while giving his brother a pleading look, this bathhouse was their last chance at helping him.

"Fine! It better help! You have no idea how much pain I'm in."

Both of them started walking towards the bathhouse once again when the youngest was able to slightly breath again. When the two entered, the foreman greeted them like he did every guest.

"Good day" the foremen smiled widely. The older brother tried his best to smile back and nod while holding tightly onto his brothers arm.

"What's so good about it?" the younger brother snapped with a booming voice that startled all those around them. They were mountains after all, even if they had changed from their normal size, they were still very powerful spirits.

The foreman flinched back at his voice. He had never received such a rude reply before during his greetings. "I-I'm sorry sir."

The older brother immediately glared down at him. He tolerated his outbursts towards him; but he didn't like the disrespect towards others. "Don't mind him. He's been feeling a little under the weather lately and it's put him in a bad mood."

The shorter spirit immediately turned to glare at his brother. "Shut up! You don't know what I'm going through." He yelled with an extremely loud booming voice. At the sound Yubaba appeared with a confused look; she didn't understand what could've possibly happened that would have made two powerful mountain spirits so angry.

"What's with all of the shouting?" she demanded looking from her foreman to the two customers. Angry customers are bad for business.

"No one's shouting lady! Go get your ears checked." the younger brother growled at the older woman, Yubaba immediately glared at him but took a step back; she knew this spirit was very powerful and by the looks of it, he was in pain.

"My mistake then, I'll be sure to give you my two best employees to take care of you. One moment." Yubaba gave a fake smile before turning in the direction of the big bath and calling for them. "Lin, Sen, come here please!" Yubaba watched for a second before both woman came rushing out of the big tub; they were both soaked as they came to stand in front of them.

"Yes ma'am?" Lin asked looking at the two mountain spirits before focusing back on the woman. She tried desperately to keep her anger out of her voice; she didn't want to be in anymore trouble than Chihiro had already gotten her in.

"We have two mountain spirits in need of your assistance. Sen, you take the shorter one, and be extra careful; he's in a very bad mood." Yubaba kept her eyes on the spirits, watching to see if the younger one would do anything rash. She didn't want to give such a dangerous job to Chihiro but she knew that she was her best worker.

Chihiro groaned loudly obviously displeased about her decision; she hadn't put together Yubaba's thoughts, she merely thought the older woman was still getting back at her for Bo. "Why are you still picking on me? So you had to have an embarrassing conversation with your son! Get over it!"

Yubaba glared heavily at silencing her immediately. "Now!" Yubaba didn't want to beat around the bush with this customer.

Chihiro sighed heavily before walking with Lin to stand in front of the two brothers. The younger one locked eyes with her immediately and glared hatefully down in her direction. "A human? What is a human doing here!" he growled opening his mouth to yell something else but Chihiro cut him off.

With a forced smile on her lips and with a voice as calm as ice Chihiro spoke up. "Follow me sir, I'll get your bath ready." she turned and began walking while keeping her angry eyes locked on Yubaba.

"Whatever, let go of me!" He screamed shoving his brother away while he pulled out of his supportive hold. He ignored the hurt look he received in return and followed after Chihiro, grumbling, and groaning the entire time.

Chihiro wondered what was wrong after while of him sounding more in pain than angry. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but she knew spirits like him had a lot of pride and probably wouldn't tell her anyways. She decided not to ask until he let out a very loud groan of pain and grabbed his stomach.

"Is everything okay sir?" she tried, while watching him grasp his stomach in pain; after a moment the spirit opened his eyes looking angrier than before.

"I'm fine!" the spirit growled watching as Chihiro didn't flinch back like the rest of them. "I just don't feel good! I don't need some stinking human worrying about me!" he looked away from her when she glared at him.

"Okay, if you say so." Chihiro dismissed his pain without another look and started walking forwards again. This time not caring about his groans of pain. She was getting frustrated with the younger brother's attitude; she couldn't understand why he was so hostile towards her; sick or not, she didn't think she deserved it.

"Here's your bath sir." she gestured towards the big bath that her and Lin had just cleaned.

"I see that, now get out of my way!"