(A/N: First time making a story like this... hope you enjoy!)

"Promise"

By: FanFictioner002

Chapter 1

"Chihiro!" My mother yelled up the stairs. "Chihiro, come down here and see your aunt and uncle before we leave!"

"I'm coming, Mom. Just a minute."

I jumped up off the bed quickly, almost tripping and spraining my ankle again. I was so clumsy that it was actually somewhat funny. Grabbing my phone off of the desk and slipping it into my pocket, I slowly made my way down to the living room where my mother's sister and her family stood, dreading their departure more with every step.

My aunt and uncle greeted me with hugs and compliments as always before they started pestering me about their kids. Would it be alright if they stayed for the night? Would I be alright with them alone? Was I sure?

I put on my best fake smile and assured them that Sora, Miki, and Michi were all complete angels whenever they stayed with me. Of course, that was a complete and utter lie. They were the worst brats I'd ever babysat in my life.

Sora, the eldest, would never acknowledge me as his elder simply because he was a few inches taller. News flash! I had five years on him! The twin girls, Miki and Michi, wouldn't have been so bad for six year olds if they didn't do every single thing Sora told them to do. In their eyes, it was Mommy, Daddy, Big Bro, Auntie, Uncle, and lastly me. They only listened if I were the only authority figure around.

It's pathetic really. I'm eighteen and starting classes at the university soon, but I still get stuck with stupid jobs like this.

Everyone said their good-byes, and the four of them left for a Spa Resort that my mother said she desperately needed to visit after seeing her only baby graduate and "get another step closer to adulthood." Personally, I believed she was just looking for an excuse to get away from her job. Her boss had been throwing more and more work at her and demanding she work over time. My now fragile mother couldn't handle too much stress. She was about to burst.

The kids lingered around the doorway and listened for the car to start up and drive away. I stared them down. Something was about to happen. They were plotting something big this time. I was sure of it.

But, as sure as I was, I must have been wrong. They asked to watch a movie and quietly sat in the family room while I made dinner for them. Macaroni wasn't anything special, but after they ate, they politely thanked me for the meal and went back to watch some more television. Maybe things were going to be just fine tonight, and the adults would be back tomorrow evening. Then I could get back to finding a new outfit for my very first day of classes.

After about thirty minutes of watching the stupidest cartoon I'd ever seen, I decided to call Ami, my best friend who lived just two houses over to ask her to come over and keep me company while they were around. I knew she would agree. Even though she had far less patience for kids than I did, I knew that she'd been dying to tell me about running into the boy she liked earlier that week.

Just as I'd known she would, Ami agreed immediately. She would be right over when she finished her chores.

After I hung up the phone, I remembered that I had to clean the kitchen. Mom would go insane if she came back to the mess I'd managed to make when I made the macaroni. Honestly, I didn't know someone could manage to get cheese on every surface, but if anyone could it would be me.

The kitchen was cleaner than it was before when I finally finished and headed back to the family room to sit down and rest. I plopped down on the couch and started surfing the channels before it even hit me that the kids were gone.

Jumping up, I searched every room in the entire house, and the three of them were nowhere to be found. I walked into the entry hall to see if they're shoes and jackets were still there. They were gone.

Something shifted behind me and I turned quickly. All I got was a glimpse of Sora, the girls, and something big right in front of my face before I blacked out.

"Chihiro! Chihiro!"

My name echoed through the black and grabbed me pulling me back to consciousness. Ami kneeled over me. It took me a moment to process the last thing I remembered, but when it all came to me, I jolted upright.

"The kids!" I screamed as I grabbed Ami's shoulders.

"They're not here. The front door was wide open when I got here, and I don't know where they went!" She told me in a high-pitched, panicky voice, and she started to cry.

"We'll find them then! They couldn't have gone far, Ami."

"We can't go out in this rain. It's getting worse out there."

"All the more reason to go then!" I yelled. Those kids may have been brats, but they were my responsibility. I had to find them. Ami tried to stop me, but I ran out the door as fast as I could anyway and left Ami yelling at me in the background.

I ran down the driveway and looked around. In the distance, at the edge of the woods, I saw a small stuffed animal, the same stuffed animal that Michi carried around with her all the time, and I took off into the woods.

I didn't stop to think about anything. Not my bleeding, cold feet that I'd forgotten to protect with my boots, not the fact that I was soaking wet and wearing the thinnest pair of shorts and the thinnest tank top I owned, nothing but finding them. My parents would kill me. My aunt and uncle would spit on my dead, rotting body. They probably wouldn't even give me a proper burial after this.

I ran through the forest screaming their names as loud as I could manage, but it wasn't long until my voice and my strength were gone. I came to halt as I ran right into a statue and leaned on it to hold me up. I wasn't sure where I was or which way I'd even come from.

The echoing of footsteps made me jerk my head up to see a large red entrance of some sort. There was light shining brightly through the tunnel, and I could make out the shadow of someone running through it.

"Sora!" I yelled as I pushed myself from the statue and started running again. But I couldn't catch up no matter how hard I tried because of how badly my legs hurt.

Closing my eyes, I forced myself to keep going. The sound of my steps clattered against the walls, and it felt like they were closing in on me until finally a breeze surrounded me. I knew I was outside again, so I stopped and sunk to the ground. It wasn't cold though, and it wasn't raining. The setting sun in the distance warmed me. After a moment, I pulled myself back to my feet. I'd seen him running through the tunnel. They were here somewhere, and I had to find them.

I turned and looked in every direction. Grass fields as far the eye could see... But there was smoke in the distance coming from what looked like a small village with lots of colorful, old houses. I started walking towards the smoke. People were there then. Maybe they'd seen the kids.

But something felt wrong. Something screamed at me to turn around and go back before it was too late. I had to find the kids. I had to find them. I couldn't turn back now after coming this far after them.

As I got closer, I saw a ditch lined with rocks. Maybe they are going to put a river here, I thought to myself. I jumped down into it and climbed up the other side where steps lead up into what must have been the main street.

I climbed the steps slowly, my legs burning more and more with each one. By now, I wasn't thinking about the kids any more. I was thinking that I was just here visiting. It felt like I was headed to Ami's house to see her or to the mall to hang out with friends. It felt like I'd been here before.

Walking down the main street towards another set of steps, I noticed that every single building was a restaurant, and all of them had something cooking. There was a variety of different smells, and even though they smelled delicious, my body felt nauseous and sick at the thought of eating some of it. My body was warning me.

Despite all of the restaurants and the cooking food, not a soul was in sight. If it weren't for the sizzling of the grills, I'd have thought I was in the middle of a ghost town. The kids would be here somewhere though. Suddenly, I remembered why I was here in the first place.

"Sora! Miki! Michi! Where are you!?" I yelled when I started up the steps leading up to small, red tower. A clock tolled somewhere in the distance to signal the end of the hour, and the sun set behind me completely as darkness washed through the little town. Lamps starting coming on, and I stopped just before reaching the top of the stairs.

Turning, I saw the building I'd come through earlier in the distance, and a large boat glided through the grass fields, no over a large lake. Movement in the corner of my eye made my head turn again. Shadowy looking creatures opened the doors of the little buildings, and before I knew it, those creatures had flooded the streets. I took a few steps backward up the stairs before falling down at the top.

I had to get out of there, but how?

I jumped to my feet as some of the shadow-like things noticed me and turned to run. I didn't get more than a few feet though before noticing a large bridge leading to a huge bathhouse. It was red with a green roof.

Lamps in front of the bathhouse came on, and people who must've worked there stepped out. Some of them looked sort of human, but I could tell they weren't.

"I don't know why we even bother anymore!" A woman dressed in pink said as she came out of the entrance. "We're lucky to get twenty guests a night since that other bathhouse opened in the next town over."

"Don't let Yubaba hear you saying that Lin!" Another one said with a giggle. "She'll send you packing if she does!"

"Sounds great to me! The other bathhouse pays five times more than Yubaba does," Lin told the group of girls around her.

"Shhh! Shut up!" One of them whispered. "Is that a customer?"

All of them looked towards me and stared.

"Welcome to our bathhouse!" Most of them said as they bowed toward me. The one named Lin didn't join in though. Instead she rushed forward as if to get a better look at my face.

"No, no!" A small frog said as he jumped up and down. "It's a human. How did it get here?"

Lin was almost right in front of me before she stopped.

"Sen," she whispered before turning back towards the bathhouse. "Guys, it's Sen! Sen's back!"

"It's Sen! It's Sen!" They all muttered in surprise. "Hurry, someone go tell Yubaba!"

But my name wasn't Sen. My name was...

Suddenly, pictures flashed through my mind. There were pigs, a boiler room with soot workers, the Radish spirit, a large witch taking possession of my name, and... Something else. Someone else.

"Haku," my lips said to Lin. "Where's Haku?"

"Chihiro went looking for the kids, and they came back right after she left..." Ami told the police for the billionth time when they came to question her yet again. "That's all I know."

"All right. Thank you for your time, Miss Yamada."

The police didn't have too many questions. She could tell they were only asking because they had to. They probably thought Chihiro had run off with some guy or something, but Chihiro would never do something like that.

It had been two days already, and there was no sign of her. Ami remembered watching her run off into the night. Not five minutes after she'd left, the kids came back again. She never did.

If the police don't take this seriously, Chihiro might never come back, Ami thought.

(A/N: Hope you enjoyed. I'll be writing the next chapter!)