Recap:
"Chihiro!" Lin's frantic voice was the only sound she heard before the upper part of her body was bombarded with her friend's arms. "You had me so worried! Don't ever do something like that again!" Lin mumbled while squeezing the young girl so tight that she could barely breathe; tapping her spirit friend on the back, Lin finally let go allowing for air flow to reach her lungs.
Sucking in a huge gulp of air Chihiro smiled nervously but happily towards her worried companion. "I won't, I promise; he just needed my help."
Lin glared at her for a moment preparing to lecture her about how 'just because someone needs help doesn't mean that they always get help' but she paused short when she noticed the giant stone gem in her hand. "Um, what's that?"
Chihiro followed her gaze and also looked down at the comfortingly warm stone in her hand. "Oh, it's just a-" before she could respond an old bony hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked it upwards. Yubaba pulled the stone closer to her face while she inspected in thoroughly without touching it; the old witch didn't want to take what the young human girl had earned.
"It's a fire-ruby." she said surprised; they were very rare and extremely valuable. It took every essence of her being not to grab the rare item, she was a business woman after all. But she knew that the young girl had risked her life, and that she was the reason she was put into such danger; she felt that the girl deserved a little reward.
"A real fire-ruby?" Lin marveled looking deeply at the beautiful stone in her friends had. She was just as surprised as the other money hungry workers circling around them. Yubaba looked around at Lin and the other spirits noticing the greed forming in their eyes while they stared on a the stone before grabbing it from the girl's hand and shoving it into her worker's robe pocket.
"I knew hiring you again was a good idea." she mumbled a little louder than she had meant to. "Don't go doing that again, do you hear me?" she said while looking up at the startled expression on Chihiro's face while the girl stared down at her in shock. It only lasted for a moment before a confident smirk settled on the pretty woman's face.
"Nice to see you care." she said arrogantly while crossing her arms; Yubaba sucked in the feeling of disappointment at the girl's attitude while stepping away form her. The older woman ignored the girl's comment before turning back to look at all the workers; she would make a point to make a positive example out of Chihiro's good work and bravery.
"For such a good job, and for your confident bravery, you can have the rest of the day off." she said while smiling to herself before glaring at the rest of the spirits in the room. "Now all of you! Clean this place up! I want it spotless."
Groans filled the room from all of the other spirits including Lin who sent Chihiro a jealous glare before nudging the girl's shoulder. "Back one day, and you're already back to being the old hag's favorite." after saying it she shoved passed the girl and pushed on following after the other workers who all sent Chihiro a little glare.
The young woman stood still while rubbing her hands together nervously. She hated being the 'teacher's pet'; even friends would turn against friends depending on the situation.
....
Sitting in the woman's sleeping room, Chihiro sighed while dangling her legs over the edge of the balcony. There were too many different emotions running through her and her mind couldn't focus on more than one thing at a time; she missed home -- mainly her dad -- but overall she was disappointed in her return to the bath house. She knew it was childish, and pretty much a child's fantasy; but she truly thought she would return home and be welcomed by a certain pair of arms; arms that belonged to a certain river spirit who was no where to be found. Chihiro sighed heavily before running her hands down her face; she was tired of waiting for Haku to return.
"Thinking about a certain river spirit?" a voice caught the girl off guard making her pause rubbing her face temporarily. Chihiro didn't need to look towards the sound to know she was now sharing the room with Lin. She thought of the small confrontation that they had earlier when Yubaba relieved her of her duties; Chihiro thought that Lin might still be angry and braced herself for any upcoming conversations.
"Among other things." she replied while continuing to stare off into the distance where the sky met the water. She continued staring until Lin sat down beside her with a small groan; the older spirit rubbed the back of her neck before staring off at the water too.
"He'll be here eventually; just be patient." Chihiro nodded her head while looking towards her friend with a thankful look. "Oh and good job today, sorry if I seemed grumpy." she mumbled while giving the girl a sorry smile.
"Why does it seem like I'm the one who always gets the trouble customers? First the old man river spirit, then the younger pain in the butt river spirit, then there was No-Face; I mean, am I just that unlucky or what?" Chihiro complained while swinging her hand around in the air; in truth she wasn't actually complaining, she was just tired.
Lin snickered while resting her head on her right hand. "I guess you're just that unlucky." she joked before she shook her head. "No seriously kid, you're basically a professional now."
Chihiro shrugged her shoulders before a snarky laugh left her lips. "Yeah right, I don't know if I'll survive another erupting volcano spirit. Honestly if he hadn't have been nice enough to heal me afterwards, I really don't think I would've gotten up after that whole ordeal." she said nervously while rubbing her forehead.
"But you did, you helped that spirit go through one of the most difficult transformations I think I have ever seen; that's gotta count for something right?" Lin tried to encourage her point but Chihiro just shook her head.
"Well, you'd know more than me since I know next to nothing about this world. I couldn't even tell if I was helping that spirit down there or not." Chihiro mumbled before giving another sigh and roughly throwing her head into her hand. Lin snorted at that and crossed her arms seeming like she was debating something.
"Let me tell you something that most people don't know, I'm almost six-hundred and fifty years old Chihiro." An embarrassed blush coated the older woman's cheeks when Chihiro turned to her completely amazed and bewildered.
"You're kidding! Lin you don't look a day over twenty!" Chihiro exclaimed while staring at her blushing friend in complete shock, she couldn't believe what Lin had just told her.
"That's true, I don't." Lin nodded her head seeming slightly proud of herself, when she looked back at Chihiro's extremely curious eyes however Lin knew she would have to explain more. "That's only because I choose to look this way kid; everyone in the spirit world can choose what age they are."
A light seemed to go off in Chihiro's head as she recalled Kamji telling her that when she had first arrived. She guessed she hadn't put much thought into what he had said, but now that Lin had said something it really made the girl start thinking. Her mind wondered to the old witch upstairs and then to a certian river spirit; if spirits could pick their ages, then why did Yubaba choose to be an old woman, and Haku chose to be a young boy. A blush came to Chihiro's cheeks as she thought about the possiblity that Haku may return as the same little boy her ten year old self had fallen in love with; what would she do then? An adult and a child couldn't be together, even if he was ten times her age but just looked super young.
"If you're thinking about Haku seeming so young, you don't need to worry; after you left he changed his appearence till he was in his twenties; he's quite the looker now that he's an actual adult if I do say so myself." Lin commented making Chihiro give her an embarrassed glare. In her heart the young girl was jealous that her friend had gotten to see her love in his grown form; though she would never admit it since she hated the feeling.
"Oh! That reminds me, how old are you now?" Lin questioned looking from Chihiro's face down to her chest before scoffing to herself while thinking of her own chest. Chihiro, of course, didn't notice at all and just rubbed the back of her neck.
"I'm twenty- two now, but I guess I'm still just a kid compared to all you guys." she mumbled out while looking down at the ledge they were sitting on. Lin waved her hand in the air a blew a rasberry.
"Age doesn't really matter here; us spirits normally don't really talk about our actual ages with each other. That's why I was a little embarassed to tell you mine." Lin mumbled before giving Chihiro a closed eye smile, but stopped immedatly when a sad look took hold of her friend's face. "Hey, what's wrong? Did I say something?" Lin questioned while grabbing the girl's shoulder; Chihiro shook her head and wiped under her eyes quickly before giving Lin a fake smile.
"No, of course not. I just have to think about stuff differently than you guys, that's all. I mean, if I live a careful life, and don't get myself killed then I have another seventy to eighty years if I'm lucky. But that's only if I play my cards right." Chihiro wiped her face once more before moving back from the ledge and pulling her legs up and resting her chin on her knees. She had never thought about how fast her life would pass-by while living in the spirit world; would the strange time-change bring her closer to death or will she last longer there in a different world? Will she die before her and Haku ever have a life together?
"This is getting depressing; how about we both get some sleep and well talk over breakfast tomorrow?" Lin offered after a moment of watching the wheels turn in her younger friend's head.
....
A few hours after the lights were estinguished in the bath house, a lone snow white dragon eligantly flew to into the second highest level of the building, shifting into a tallish boy with brown hair, the dragon stood tall while scanning his surroundings. He had been gone for a little longer than he had expected, but he knew the only ones who would've missed him would've been Lin and Kamji; Yubaba would surely chew him out for taking an extra day and a half for himself but she'd get over it.
After all, no one would take away the time that he spent away was the time that he got to mourn the loss of the little girl he had saved twelve years ago; he had told her to return in hopes that she would live out a normal life. If he were honest, after having time to reflect, he wished he would've been selfish all those years ago and had made her stay. But that choice can't be changed now, that same little girl has had twelve years to forget her experinces in the Bathhouse; he knew that there was no way that she would ever remember him or anyone else she had met.
With those heavy thoughts weighing on his heart and mind, Haku made his way to his sleeping corters where he fell asleep, dreaming of the girl he had once knew.