Ｉｎ　Ｓｐｉｒｉｔ，　Ｏｎｌｙ

霞

Hello! This is a crossover between Nabari no Ou and Spirited Away, but will focus almost completely on Spirited Away! There will be shounen-ai in the story, but not related to any of the characters from Spirited Away, only from Nabari no Ou. You do NOT need to read/watch Nabari no Ou to understand this story. If you haven't, there'll just be a few unfamiliar characters  It won't affect the pacing of the story at all~ Although I highly suggest you do read/watch it, as it is wonderful~
The pairings are-

Chihiro/Haku

Yoite/Miharu ( shounen ai)

These are the main pairings, and I will give warnings of any new pairings to enter the story at the start of each chapter. There shouldn't be any other real main pairings though.

And even as his body disappeared and the breath left his lungs, Yoite's spirit reached out for its other half.

"Miharu…"

…what happens when the god of death dies?

Chapter 1: Those left behind

The new student took his seat in front of her, his eyes briefly passing over her face. She didn't mind. Humans had long since started to avoid her, ever since she had returned from that magical world; the world which haunted her dreams and escaped her in reality.

He was looking out the window, she noticed. She always looked out the window when she dreamed of what she had forgotten.

"Rokujo-kun, you will be shown around by Ogino-san." The teacher called. Chihiro examined her new charge's face. His green eyes reminded her of her own chocolate brown ones. They seemed to scream of loneliness, and of the same feeling that had taken over her life, the feeling which she had forgotten.

The bell rang.

"Hello." She held out a hand to the new boy—Rokujo. He avoided her gaze.

"Hello." He drew the large black coat closer to his body. He looked so out of place; the school had already switched to their summer uniforms.

"I'm Chihiro. I'll be helping you until you get used to the school." He nodded and turned back to the window.

"Well, it's lunchtime now. Do you want to have some of my bento, Rokujo-kun?" Chihiro pulled her bento out of her bag, nearly dropping it in the process. Miharu eyed her curiously.

"Can I have your milk?" Chihiro smiled and nodded, placing a small box of milk on his desk. She pulled up a chair next to his desk. She nibbled on her lunch, and he drank his milk in silence.

"Rokujo-kun, I have a feeling. You've lost someone important to you. So have I." The milk carton fell from his hands, clattering to the floor. She allowed herself to be distracted for a moment as the white liquid dripped out from the end of the straw.

"I think that we can help each other, Rokujo. I think that individually, we would never find the ones we're looking for, but that together, we will lead each other to the people that mean the most to us." Miharu stiffened, his face losing all emotion.

"Yoite…"

"Is that the name of the person you're looking for?" Chihiro pressed, desperation in her voice.

"He's dead." And Miharu stood, and ran. The suffocating classroom disappeared as he allowed his feet to lead him wherever they would.

Seven years had passed. Haku had been trapped by his own foolishness, and forced to serve under Yubaba for three of those years. Then Yubaba had disappeared, forcing him to take over control of the Aburaya. He had tried to enter the human world immediately after that, only to find out that no spirit, no matter how powerful, could enter the human world without a physical form. His river had been his physical form, and now he could not find it.

The next year had been spent looking for his river. It had survived the construction, and ran deep underground. He still could not enter the human world. After being apart from his river for so many years, their connection had drastically weakened.

That year, a young boy appeared who was unlike anything they had ever seen. He was not human, but he was no spirit. He had just fallen out of thin air one day. He woke up three weeks later, refusing to speak to anyone.

Haku had employed the boy in helping with his research. They had become friends of a sort. They had both given up someone important to them, someone in the human world. He knew that the boy had his own reasons for helping him, but he didn't care. It was another year before the boy even told him his name.

"I am Yoite…"

Seven years had passed. Haku had become one of the most powerful gods in the Spirit World, gaining the allegiance of many river spirits in his quest to enter the human world. Nothing worked. He had become one of the Great Gods, but underneath the power, he was empty.

"Rokujo!" Chihiro called, chasing the black figure ahead of her through all-too-familiar forests. It had started to rain, she noted.

Flashes of a distant memory blended with the scene around her.

She was riding in the car, her small arms wrapped around a bouquet of flowers.

She slipped in the mud, landing painfully on the ground. The figure ahead of her darted out of sight. She took off again almost immediately, hoping that she was taking the right path.

A few tiny 'houses' lined the path. She could swear a small ghostly figure had waved at her from the shelter of one.

For spirits who needed refuge from the rain.

Miharu was standing in the clearing, next to a grotesque statue. She ran up behind him.

"What were you thinking? School—" The old building loomed before her. Her memories were close. That person was close.

"You were right." She looked at him as rain and tears poured down.

"He's not dead. I can feel him now. He's so close." He looked at her with eyes full of understanding.

"We must go in."

They walked side by side, but not together. Two sets of eyes were focused straight in front, two pairs of feet moving confidently forward. The dark tunnel gave way to a quiet, dusty room. A train sounded in the distance. They walked out into a field, one which Chihiro—

Don't look back.

Chihiro smiled as she crossed the barrier to the Spirit World. She took off at a run, taking in all of the familiar shops which surrounded the Aburaya. It was still light out. She ran up to the bridge, taking a moment to savor her memories.

Haku.

She willed herself to calm down. Acting rashly would only get somebody hurt. She turned around.

"Roku—" He wasn't there. She had not noticed when he had stopped following her. She had not noticed as he caught a glimpse of that boy. She hadn't noticed as he had left her, running down one of the side alleys, trying to get to the one that he had so achingly longed for. She wasn't even sure if he had made it into the Spirit World. There was a good possibility that he hadn't come through with her.

She checked all the shops, desperately hoping that he hadn't been turned into a pig due to her foolishness. He was nowhere to be found, and the sun was about to set.

I'm sorry Rokujo. Please be okay.

Abandoning her search, she ran across the bridge, taking the same path which she had run seven years before. She slid in the workers' door of the Aburaya, out the back door, and down the precarious steps which led to the boiler room.

Paperwork was overwhelming, as always. The all-powerful Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi could feel a headache coming on. Yoite had brought in some information earlier, which naturally had to be written in small, illegible handwriting that was exhausting to read.

"Master Haku! A human has gotten into the bathhouse!" Haku slammed his hand into the desk. Yes, definitely a headache coming on.

Well, it happened! I wrote it~!

Please tell me what you think  I have the flu right now, so I'm a bit all over the place :O If you like it, I'll update again either as soon as I get better or as soon as I get another random whim.

As for opinions, do you think Rin should be paired up? I already have some ideas for Kamaji :) But I've always liked Rin as the confident who-needs-men type who knocks the sense into Chihiro when she gets too fluffy :P I want to do something fun with Kaonashi too…

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!~

Love,

霞