Hey guys, look who's still alive! Up top, anyone...anyone? No? Okay :(

Sorry for leaving you guys hanging...again! Gah, I just keep getting caught up in so much stuff! Anyway, here's your new chapter! This chapter is dedicated to Ialiceiamagodness because I she messaged me back in March asking about my next update. And I told her I'd try to post it up within the next week. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to post it at that time. So, Ialiceiamagodness, this chapter is dedicated to you! Sorry about the delay!

"Hey, sleeping ugly, wake-up," commanded a dry, yet calm, voice.

Reiji's eyelids quietly fluttered as he felt warm sunlight graze the side of his face. He murmured a few incoherent words, before turning over on his side and snuggling into his futon.

"No, I said wake up." the voice was much more forceful this time.

"Go…away," Reiji managed to say.

"Reiji, you have 5 seconds to get up," the voice threatened. "If you're not up within those 5 seconds, I'm dousing you in freezing cold water." The voice paused for a brief moment. "On second thought, don't get up. I'm gonna douse you anyway."

Reiji immediately flipped back over on his back and found a shadowy figure hovering over him. Obviously, he wasn't able to make out any of it's features. His vision slowly began to return to him as he gently rubbed at his eyes.

"N-Naomi?" he whispered, siting up in bed.

The voice didn't respond to him. When Reiji was finished rubbing his eyes, he looked up to find two brown eyes glaring back at him. These eyes, full of aggravation and anger, did not belong to Naomi. Instead, Reiji found himself face to face with Shin Ikeda.

"Shin? What are you doing here?" asked Reiji, glancing around the infirmary for anyone else.

There were rows and rows of empty futons spread across the entire room. Shin's was the one closets to the partially open balcony. He wondered if there was anyone else out there.

"Same as you," he responded. "I was dragged into this situation by a certain girl we both know. Don't you remember?"

Reiji winched a little from the iciness of his tone. Why was Shin acting to strange? He's usually incredibly laid back. But something seemed to be bothering him.

"Uh, yeah. I sorta remember," he said. "I guess I've been out of it for a while, huh?"

Shin stared down at Reiji's chest. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel much better actually. I don't know what those Spirits did to me, but it worked!" he said with a smile, trying to warm up the icy environment.

Shin nodded. "I thought so. They used some weird water spirit medicine on you. At least, that's what I was told. I'm not really sure what they did to you. I wasn't in the room when it happened."

"My mind's still a little fuzzy. What exactly is going on? I remember all of us being captured by Tatsuo and brought here. But, what happened afterwards?" he asked.

"Tatsuo put all of his bathhouse workers under his control and that's it for right now."

"Wait, what are you wearing?" Reiji asked, pointing out Shin's white bath workers uniform.

"You're wearing one too," Shin fire back. "Didn't you realize it?"

"Huh?" He gasped, throwing off his blanket. Shin was right? He was also wearing one. "When did that happen?"

"I don't know. I wasn't in the room, remember?" Shin slyly responded.

Reiji suddenly thought of something. "Hey, where's Naomi?"

Shin's face slightly hardened. "She's with Tatuso."

"She's with him?!" Reiji hissed.

"He said he needed a personal assistant. So he chose her a long with that girl, Lin."

"But why would you just let her go with him?"

"Naomi actually wanted to stay close to him," Shin snapped. "She said she might be able to discover his weakness this way. But I'm not so sure. There was nothing I could do to stop him from taking her."

"So where are they now?" asked Reiji.

"In the former bathhouse owner's office. He plans on opening the bathhouse tonight," Shin explained. "So the rest of the workers are busy making preparations."

"Strange move. He's got his full power back. You'd think he'd go on a psychotic rampage or something, not continue the business," Reiji mused.

"Ugh, keep up with me, peasant!" Shin frowned, "Tatsuo is planning on opening the bathhouse tonight as usual. Then, when all of the customers for the evening have arrived, he'll take control of them too. This place is supposedly one of the best spots in the entire realm. I'm sure it attracts all kinds of powerful spirits. Can you imagine if he gained control over all of those spirits? It'll be a disaster."

"And Chihiro and Rena are still out there somewhere. They could get caught in the crossfire," Reiji said. "So what do you think we should do?"

Shin shrugged, "I'm not sure yet. Some of the workers have faith in a band of heros called, The Guardians. Chihiro's friend is supposedly a member of them. They say they're powerful…"

"But?"

"But others just say they're a bunch of self-righteous buffoons who appointed themselves as Spirit World defenders. I'm not sure who to believe, "Shin stood up and took a long stretch.

"So, were basically screwed?"

"For now all we can do is wait and see how this all plays out," said Shin with a deep sigh. He immediately plopped back down next to Reiji. A deep scorn spread across his face. "Now, on a completely unrelated subject, there's something I need to ask you."

"Uh….okay?" said Reiji, a little worried. "What's up?"

"Are you into my sister?"

Reiji's eyes nearly popped out of his head and he frantically began coughing.

"What are you choking on, Reiji? An air sandwich with a tall glass of bullshit?" Shin darkly questioned, as he cocked his head to the side.

"It's just that, your question just took me by surprise," he stammered. "That's such a random question!"

"A random question that you're trying to avoid like the plauge. Now answer it,"

"Don't you think this creating an awkward situation?" Reiji wondered.

Shin's left eye twitched. "Awkward? I'll tell you what's awkward! Being forced to listen to some guy call out your sister's name in his sleep!"

Reiji tried to avoid looking a little flustered. "I…really called her name out in my sleep?"

"11 times! That's right, I counted! I couldn't take it anymore. That's why I woke you up," He shouted. "And then there's all the mushy things you kept saying to her when you were out of it."

"What mushy things?"

Shin was on the verge of breaking. "Things like, 'Naomi, you're really pretty' or 'you smell good!' Look, I'm not an overprotective brother, but you're making me a little uncomfortable!"

"I said that to her? Gah, I feel like an idiot! She probably laughed right in my face!" sighed Reiji.

"She didn't," responded Shin.

"She didn't?"

Shin firmly shook his head. "No. Especially when you told her that you were nearly beaten to a pulp protecting her."

Reiji looked away from Shin. "I told her? I didn't want her to know about that. Now she'll think I'm some weakling."

"Why do you care what she thinks, you don't like her anyway. Right?"

Reiji took a deep breath before glancing back at Shin.

"If I say I do, are you gonna to kill me?"

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"Uh, not that I'm complaining," said Chihiro, blushing slightly, "but what exactly brought this on? I mean, you literally just came out of nowhere with this."

"The way I treated you before was unfair, and for that I apologize. I had no right to say any of those things to you," Haku responded.

A gentle breeze blew across the valley and lightly tugged on the couples clothing. Chihiro elegantly tucked some loose strands of her ear behind her ear as she shyly looked up at her beloved.

"You were just concerned for my safety."

"But that didn't make it fair for me to hurt you. If I could take back what I said to you, I'd do it in a heartbeat," he explained. "I was afraid of admitting my true feelings to you because I know that you need to return to your world. I didn't want to take a huge risk by pouring out my emotions. But I'm not afraid of that anymore. You're worth the risk, Chihiro. I want to spend every day of the rest of my life with you."

"Really?" she asked, growing a bit teary eyed.

Haku clasped Chihiro's hands in his. "Really."

"But how can we be together? You're a powerful dragon and spirit and I'm just an ordinary human."

"I'm not entirely sure yet either. But there must be a way. There just has to be. We'll be together in the end. You'll see. And if you can't stay here, then I'll just have to force myself through the barrier and cross the river."

Chihiro smiled and nuzzled her head into Haku's chest. "Okay, I trust you."

"Now that that's settled," said Haku wrapping his arms around Chihiro. "Where is everyone?"

Chihiro quickly pulled away and stared him in the eye. "You mean you don't know either?"

"I just arrived here. Why would I have any information on any of the events that just transpired?"

"Well they were all here when I accidentally trapped myself the sealed room," she explained.

"Sealed room?"

She nodded, "Yeah, apparently I missed the entire battle."

"Just start from the beginning."

Chihiro groaned, "Kay, so I wanted to find Masaru's castle and save Rena while he was busy fighting you. So, I used a golden compass, given to me, to find the location and ran all the way there,"

"You ran all the way to Masaru's castle?!" asked Haku in shocked. "Do you have any idea how far that is on foot?!"

"I do now," she snorted, placing her hands on her hips.

"Why would you do something like that?" he demanded to know.

"Because you made me feel inadequate and I wanted to prove my worth to you," she said, slightly flustered. "I believe your exact words were, 'Chihiro, you shouldn't have come here'. Something along those lines."

He sighed heavily and turned away from her. "Okay and then what happened?"

"Well, as I was running, I came into a thick icy haze that seemed to stretch on for miles. I figured it was Masaru's barrier," she continued. "So, I pressed on forward."

"And it was at that moment that Masaru immediately came racing back. He felt your impeding presence. I still can't believe you blindly plunged into the barrier like that. Chihiro, you could've been killed," Haku expressed.

"But I wasn't," she cheerfully replied. "Well, Yubaba almost managed to kill me when she swept me up into a swirling vortex of doom and –"

"You had a confrontation with Yubaba?!"

Haku's blood pressure was beginning to skyrocket. It seemed Chihiro's story was becoming worse and worse with each new detail. How could one girl manage to get into so much trouble within a matter of a few hours?! His mind was completely blown as he listened to Chihiro ramble on and on.

"Yes, but I made a deal with her. I gave her my golden compass in exchanged for my life," said Chihiro.

"That's….actually very resourceful," said Haku. "Hold on, where'd you a golden compass in the first place? They don't exactly grow on trees."

"Kamaji gave it to me," she responded. "I almost forgot I had it. Without the compass, there's no way I would've ever made it here on my own."

"Figures," Haku muttered. "He always manages to get his hands on the strangest artifacts."

"So, anyway," Chihiro continued, "Yubaba let me go and I blindly continued through the icy barrier. Then the others showed up and we all broke inside the castle together. Akira managed to follow Rena's scent and lead us to her location. But before we could do anything, Masaru showed up, and I got pushed inside the enchanted room with Rena for what seemed like forever!"

Haku glared at her, "so...where's she now?"

"She's still trapped inside," Chihiro sheepishly responded as she twirled her thumbs. "I, ah, kinda forgot about her for a little bit."

"My, my," he slyly responded. "You're not as innocent as I thought you were, are you?"

"I was just trying to get help and…"Chihiro's faced ripened, "D-Don't look at me like that! I just…got a little distracted! It's your fault!"

"Alright, I'll take the blame. But right now, we need to save the girl," said Haku, suddenly becoming serious again.

Chihiro grabbed onto Haku's hand. "Come on, I'll show you where to go."

But Haku scooped up Chihiro into his arms before she even took a step. "No time. Just point me in the right direction."

"Uh, okay," said Chihiro a little flustered.

"Besides, I think you've done enough running around the moment," He said softly as he flew into the castle.

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Lin grumbled as she bent down to pick up a pink and blue bathhouse worker uniform. The garments were scattered all over the marble floors of Yubaba's office. Yubaba's giant minon heads curiously watched as they stayed huddled in the corner by the blazing fireplace. Naomi sat at the edge of Yubaba's desk with her left leg draped over her right. Her arms her tightly folded across her chest and her head was turned away from Lin.

"I am not wearing that!" she shouted.

Lin sighed. "These are orders from that freak, Masaru. Unless you want him to come in here and use his creepy mind powers, you'd better wear the uniform."

"No way! It's degrading!"

Lin raised an eye brow as she glanced down at her own uniform. "How is it degrading? Your body will be completely covered! We all wear one!"

"No, that's not what I mean!" said Naomi, shaking her head firmly. "I've been stalked by a deranged psychotic being, dragged into another realm, held hostage in an enormous spiritual facility, and now I'm being forced into another change of clothes?! No, I refuse to become a tragic kidnapped heroine of a shonen anime story! I will not wear clothes provided by the enemy!"

"Oh Geez. Why do I always get stuck with the weirdos?" Lin muttered.

"I doubt he'll use his mind control on me anyway," said Naomi. "I saw how much trouble he had controlling you."

"So?"

"So, that means he has issues with controlling strong willed people. Maybe even women in general," Naomi explained. "Don't you see, Lin? We can beat him this way. If we resist long enough, then maybe we can exhaust him."

"It won't be that easy. He'll kill us both before that even happens. You're new here so you don't know the stories about this guy. Your little plan won't work. He's just too powerful."

"Even a giant can be brought down by a parasite," said Naomi sharply. "I'm not gonna give up on this."

"Well you should," Lin said "Our best bet is to wait for the Guardians to get here. And they went off to battle. But it won't be long before they figure out what's going on and come rushing back. There are 3 new humans in the spirit world, after all. They've probably sensed you by now."

"So, do all spirits have the ability to sense humans?" Naomi asked.

"Not all of us do. Only extremely powerful spirits can. The rest of us can only smell when they're nearby," said Lin with disgust. "You humans have a pretty pungent aroma."

"Where's Chihiro?" Naomi asked, ignoring her comment. "Is she safe?"

Lin frowned. "You mean Sen, right? Sorry, I'm not used to her real name yet. I haven't seen her since yesterday."

"Then she's probably already met up with Haku by now. I'll bet they're fighting against Masaru right now," said Naomi, suddenly worried. "I hope she's alright."

"She'd better be alright," fussed Lin. "That dragon boy had better not let anything happen to her, or I'll sock em into next week!"

"He would never let anything happen to her!" proclaimed Naomi. "He cares for her too much!"

"Right," said Lin with disbelief. "And how do you know all this again? You hacked Sen's diary, or something?"

"I already told you it wasn't a diary!" screeched Naomi. "She wrote her accounts from 5 years ago into a notebook and told everyone it was a story she made up," Naomi gushed. "I practically fell in love with the story."

"Your brother was right. You are nuts," sighed Lin,

"How is he doing? Is he okay?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, he's still over in the infirmary with your friend," Lin answered. "Of course, both of them are cooperating better than you are"

"So, Reiji's fine too?"

Lin furrowed her brow, "yes, I just said that, didn't I? We managed to heal most of his injuries. He's probably awake by now."

"I have to see them," Naomi proclaimed, pacing towards the doorway. She nearly stumbled backwards when she saw tatsuo staring back at her.

"Just where do you think you're going?" he questioned, blocking her path.

"To see Shin and Reiji," she told him.

"I'm afraid I can't let that happen right now. You are to remain here. But you'll surely see them later when time comes for us to open," he told her, brushing pass.

'I really don't like the sound of that,' she thought.

"Lin, any trouble in here?" he asked, sashaying over to Yubaba's former desk and sitting down. He glanced over at her three minions hurdled in the corner. "Aww, what's the matter? Don't be afraid. I'm not gonna kill you."

"No, no trouble at all," Lin replied.

He glanced at the uniformless Naomi for a brief moment, then back at Lin. "And what about the baby?"

"Boh is still sound asleep. Whatever you fed him seems to still be working."

"Boh? Who's that?" asked Naomi. She didn't remember ever hearing that name before.

"Yubaba's child," Lin answered.

"You mean the giant baby?" she shrieked. "What did you do to him?"

"I just slipped him a sleeping spell in his bottle," Tatsuo casually stated. "Simply killing him would've been easier to deal with, but I may still need some leverage over the old witch."

"But he's just a child," Naomi said.

"And so are you," he coldly answered, rising from his seat. "I don't care if you're man, woman, or child, if you get in my way I'll eliminate you. Is that understood?"

Both Lin and Naomi nodded once.

"Good," he replied, moving towards the doors. He glared at the 3 minions. "You three, come with me. Now!"

The three minions hopped after him and exited out the door one by one.

"I can at least give my little assistant some decency while she changes into her uniform," said Tatsuo, turning back to face the two women. "And you will put it on."

He slipped out the door and closed it behind him. Naomi stared down at the floor before snatching the uniform out of Lin's grasp.

"He used his control on you?" wondered Lin.

But Naomi shook her head, "I just allowed him to win this battle. But he will now win the war. I'm still determined to find his weakness. We now have 2 more hours until they begin lighting the lanterns."

…

"This is it. This is the entrance to the enchanted room," explained Chihiro, standing in front of stone cold wall. "Masaru used some sort of love enchantment to seal off the room. The only way to enter or exit is to match to the correct frequency. So, in other words, love is the answer."

"I figured that was the type of enchantment the minute you told me about the sealed room," said Haku.

"But, how did you know that? Kita and Riku couldn't even figure out what type of enchantment it was."

"Because you were able to escape, while Rena was not. I'm guessing she wasn't able to match frequencies because she doesn't have a lover."

Chihiro nodded. "That's why I left to get help."

"I never thought Masaru would use such a spell. It seems a bit out of character for him," commented Haku.

"He must've casted the spell as a tribute to Ayaka since he was to think of her in order to pass," said Chihiro. "If any of his enemies were to get in here, they'd never be able to access this room. No one would ever expect that from Masaru."

"Since I know what kind of enchantment is being used," said Haku, extending out an open palm, "I should be able to break it."

"That's great," cheered Chihiro.

"There's just one more thing I'd like to confirm," he said, lowering his hand and staring back at Chihiro.

"What's that?"

"It was me you were thinking of, right?" he asked.

Chihiro smiled, "of course it was. There's no one else."

"Good," he said with a straight face, "because if there were, I'd have to kill him."

Chihiro's eyes widened with horror. "Really?"

"No, I'm joking," he said with a smug.

"Your sense of humor is frightening," laughed Chihiro.

"I know, it's part of the reason why I don't show it," he said, raising his hand again. A rifling wind swirled around his hand and quickly spread up to his shoulder. " By the power of the wind and water, unbind thee."

Suddenly, the entire stone wall began illuminating with a rich white light. Chihiro watched with amazement as a door frame slowly came into vision.

"It's done," Haku concluded, sliding open the door.

Rena stood dumbfounded. A look of pure shock spread across her face as she stared.

"Wh-What just happened?!" she freaked.

"The enchantment's been broken. You're free now," said Chihiro, walking towards her.

Rena regained her composure and smoothed out her hair. "Oh, I see. You know, for a second I didn't think you were coming back. What were you doing all this time?"

"Uh, well you see…..I," stammered Chihiro. Before she could say anything else, Haku waltzed into the room. Rena's jaw nearly dropped when she saw him.

"Who is that?" she asked, a little flushed. Her eyes glanced over Haku's stoic expression.

"Oh yeah," said Chihiro, taking Haku's hand. "Rena, this is Haku. He's my….uh, well. He's my….."

"Boyfriend," said Haku gently.

Chihiro was suddenly at a loss for words. Yes, the two of them finally confessed their feelings for one another, but they didn't exactly define a relationship. Hearing Haku say that out loud brought butterflies to her stomach.

"Yes," she nodded. "Boyfriend."

"He looks just like your drawings," mused Rena.

"I thought you said you didn't look at them," said Chihiro, folding her arms.

Rena turned away. "I may have glanced at one or two drawings."

Haku raised an eyebrow. "You drew pictures of me?"

"Uh, just little doodles. Nothing that impressive," said Chihiro, nervously rubbing the back of her neck.

"Nontheless, I would like to see these doodles you've done of me later," he said with a smirk.

"I'd love to show them to you. But, unfortunately, someone dropped them into a fiery inferno," Chihiro shot a glance at Rena.

"For crying out loud, Ogino! Can't you just let that go?! I feel bad enough!" whined Rena. "Anyway, can we go home now? I feel like I'm losing more and more of my sanity the longer I stay here."

"I'd like to send you home now, but I'm afraid that will have to wait," said Haku.

"That's right. We still need to stop Masaru," said Chihiro. "I hope the others are doing okay."

But Haku was no longer listening He was glancing down at what the floor. His entire face was completely blank with expression, as if he were in some sort of trance. Chihiro gently tapped his shoulder.

"Haku? Are you okay?" she asked. "Haku!"

He suddenly shook his head, "yeah…I'm fine."

"It's not like you to just suddenly space out like that."

"I thought I felt something," he said, putting a hand to his temple.

Chihiro tilted her head in confusion, "something? Like what?"

"I can't explain it," he told her. "It's just that…something doesn't feel right. I think there are more humans in the Spirit World."

"What? But how?" Rena gasped.

"I don't know," he answered. "But I can vaguely sense them along with something else that I can't quite make out."

"You think Masaru kidnapped more people?" asked Chihiro.

Haku shook his head. "I don't think so. He's got the rest of the team to worry about. Besides, it doesn't feel like his energy. I need to investigate this."

"Wait, what about us? You're not just gonna leave us here are you?" Chihiro demanded to know. "We're coming with you."

"I can't take you with me. What if this strange manifestation tries to go after you too? It's already captured other humans. Look, you're staying here and—"

"I said we're coming with you!" Shouted Chihiro, stomping at the ground.

Haku was a little startled by the tone and volume of her voice. Chihiro's chocolate brown eyes were as hard as stones and her plump cheeks were even redder than usual. She'd had enough of him bossing her around all the time and she wasn't going to put up with her any longer.

"Alright then," said Haku, clearing his throat. He walked away from them and prepared to transform. "Let's go."

'They've been dating for 5 minutes and already she's got him whipped,' Rena chuckled to herself.

Oh, what will happen next in our story? And where the heck are those Guardians? Find out next chapter! Which, hopefully, won't take as long to come out as this chap. Lol