Authors Notes: Hello and welcome to my story, I hope that you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it and don't forget to favorite, follow, review, or whatever you please.

To avoid any confusion – This is a re-write of my other FanFiction Death on the Horizon, just written a whole lot better. Those of you who would like to look at the original I will be keeping the old one up as well.

Enjoy

Sparrow

Black clouds rumbled in the distance, the forecasted storm coming closer and closer. The ground was dry and cracked, the plant life already turning brown. Rain began to fall lightly, slowly becoming heavier until it was a downpour. In the streets of the small town the screams and giggles of young children could be heard as they ran from the sudden rain, splashing in puddles as they went. A black and white cat sat on the front step of the small blue house at the end of the street, it hissed as the small kids made their noisy way while shouting goodbyes to each other. The cat stood and arched its back in a stretch, glaring as cats do at the disappearing forms. It sat back onto the concrete, warmed from its body heat, and looked overhead at the grey and black clouds a low grumble leaving its throat. It stood again and slunk down the steps, hesitating at the line of rain dripping from the roof above; it gave a small huff and stepped out into the rain. The cat ran to the back of the house and onto the undercover wood porch and towards the door, having accidentally ran through a puddle it was in as bad a mood as a cat can be. Meowing pitifully, its tail twitched impatiently as it waited for one of its humans to open the door. Eventually movement came from inside and a woman with greying hair and tired eyes appeared in the glass, a click of the lock and the door slid open a crack large enough for the cat to slip through.

"You silly thing, you're soaked." The woman sighed, loud in the quiet of the kitchen. The faint sound of the old T.V drifted from further in the house, its picture was flickering from the sharp wind that had begun with the rain. The woman picked up the wet cat which began to purr and lean into the warmth of her arms, they left the kitchen to a small cupboard which the woman opened while awkwardly cradling the cat with one arm. She brought out a bath towel and began to pat dry the cat while she continued walking, stopping in the living room and sitting down on an overstuffed armchair. The cat purred while the woman dried it, making sure to brush down any fur that she may have ruffled with the towel. Her thoughts drifted as she dried, she was worried and fearful as different scenarios crossed her mind.

Loud thumps on the stairs caused the cat to sink its claws into the woman's leg making her take a sharp breath. She tried to pry them away but they held fast, the noise finally stopped and as the cat relaxed so did its claws. A middle aged man sank onto the armchair next to his wife; his hair held no grey but the line was receding instead. He let out a tired sigh and smiled slightly at the damp cat, turning his attention to the T.V but his clouded eyes not focusing on what it showed. The weather update flashed onto the screen with storms and heavy showers predicted for the rest of the week,

"How is she?" The woman asked while the reporters discussed the strange weather patterns with a meteorologist. The man looked to his wife, who was still patting the cat with the towel,

"No better. Probably worse. She'll snap out of it at some point or another, we just need to give her time." The man offered her a faltering smile which she returned with a grimace. The cat suddenly stood and stretched its back, hopping onto the floor and walking away, leaving the woman with a frown and soggy towel.

The cat made its way up the stairs and to the room of the couple's daughter. The door had been left ajar so it was easy for the cat to slip inside through the gap. A plate of food had been left on the floor next to the bed, delightfully unattended. The cat glanced up at the human girl that slept peacefully in her bed her breathing soft and muttering occasional words, enough indication that it would not be caught in its mischief and it decided to dive into its meal.

The girl in the bed was jerked awake by the sound of rattling china. She looked over the side of her bed from to find her cat sitting there looking impressed with himself, an upturned plate next to him. She smiled gently at the sight, this wasn't the first time. She lay back down and rested her head on the pillows, If my parents keep leaving them there he's going to turn into one fat cat, her thought ended as she felt a sudden weight next to her. The cat walked across the bed and settled on the empty side, curling up and closing his eyes, a content purr thrumming through him and causing the girl to smile as she drifted off again and fell into what she thought would be her usual dreamless sleep.

She opened her eyes and found herself in a sunlit forest that seemed all too familiar, turning slowly she cautiously looked around, her eyes widened and a soft smile grew. The forest was beautiful, flowers grew scattered across the ground in bright spring colours with soft velvet petals and butter yellow centers, the trees stood proud and tall as they watched over their home, leaves a dark green and vines wrapping intimately around the aged bark, her bare feet stood on a soft blanket of grass that tickled between her toes and caused her to giggle lightly as she dug her feet into it. What captivated her most though was the magic that hung in the air, an undercurrent of energy and power that brushed against her skin making her shiver. A little way away a small stream was babbling happily through the trees, shining in the small patches of sun, the small stones on the bottom smooth and glittering.

The warmth and magic in the air was contagious and soon she was laughing and dancing through the trees. She stopped and breathed deeply of the small breeze that drifted across her face, the sweet fragrance of lavender and rose surrounded her and she breathed deeper, closing her eyes. She heard the birds calling to each other, creating a song that she could listen to forever. She opened her eyes and was admiring her surroundings again when she spotted a figure watching her from a low branch of a tree. Curiosity got the better of her and as she walked forward the features of the person became more defined, black hair brushed his shoulders and when the sunlight reflected off it almost seemed to be the deepest shade of green, his eyes though were definitely green, two emerald orbs that shined through any shadow passing across his face, striking and intimidating. Her breath came in sharp and loud,

"Haku?" Her voice was no higher than a whisper but emerald eyes snapped to her and watched as she began to jog towards him, a disbelieving smile spreading tentatively across her face. As she tried to move forward though the world seemed to move with her, not allowing her a step closer to the boy in the tree. She began to feel discouraged as sweat gathered on her forehead but she had not moved a step forward. She stopped walking, her underarms damp and her breath coming heavy. Haku jumped from the tree and landed without a sound on the ground, standing smoothly from a crouch to pivot and begin walking away. The panic began to set in and she called out desperately to him, her voice breaking. He paused in his march away from her, turning his head slightly and seeming to wait for some unheard cue. He turned fully towards her and it was only then that she saw that his face was contorted in a sneer. Her shirt was sticking uncomfortably to her back and her neck was damp but she could not move as Haku walked towards her. He stopped a small distance from her that she longed to reach across,

"Did you really think that I would come for you? That pig sty of a human world is what you deserve, killing yourselves off and destroying everything you touch. You are nothing to me Chihiro, or any of us." He laughed darkly but his face held no humor and she could feel her heart ache in her chest. Chihiro didn't notice as Haku turned and vanished into the trees, her eyes had blurred and a warm tear slipped down her cheek, leaving a wet trail. As the tear drop fell, glittering, to the earth, the dream shattered like a broken mirror.

Chihiro woke with a gasp, cold sweat running down her face and her sheets damp. Her head was swimming and the occasional thump of a headache made her groan. She glanced at her clock and the glowing red numbers showed the time as 6:30, her head fell back onto her pillow and a small sigh left her slightly parted lips. Usually she would be getting up at this time, readying herself and beginning the walk to school where she would find her way to class, alone. Instead she lay in her bed gazing up at the ceiling that she had memorized in the past weeks, counting every crack and blemish.

Six years ago she had moved to her new town and her parents were delighted by the imaginative and entertaining story that their daughter had come up with, a story of a different world and spirits. After a year though they became worried, what they had presumed to be a passing phase had not faded away but had grown to some sort of obsession. Chihiro had constantly tried to convince people that her story world was real, scaring away potential friends and finding solace shutting herself away in her room. Two more years went by with the same behavior resulting in visits to the shrink and after that didn't work the bright blue tablets. Now six years had gone by, Chihiro still held fast to her story but instead of being called creative she is called delusional and weird.

She had reached a point where she had had enough though. Maybe it was the whispers behind her back of the crazy girl who still believed fairytales were real, or maybe it was overhearing her parents talk about sending her away to a specialized hospital. Either way she had had enough. She had just stopped caring. She had just stopped eating, drinking, talking, moving, all of her had stopped. The hunger pangs had passed quickly and the roughness of a dry throat was no longer a problem. She knew she was right, that she went to the spirit world. When she had left that world a part of her had stayed there leaving an empty hollowness that she didn't know how to fill. But six years was a long time and the hope that had been given to her had been long gone. She could still remember when their hands had slipped apart, his smooth pale hands brushing against the rough skin of her fingers. Why did she leave? She could have returned her parents to the human world and then stayed there herself. She knew she couldn't have done that though, leaving her parents to grieve over their only daughter and her mysterious disappearance. So now she silently rejected the world around her just as it had rejected her and singled her out as a freak. She knew that she would die soon if she continued on this path, she didn't mind though, nothing had gone right since the spirit world, she didn't mind dying and that's what scared her most, that she wasn't scared.

Outside, rain was battering down on the glass doors of Chihiro's balcony. Lightning in the distance lit up the sky in a silver streak accompanied with the faintest rumble of thunder. She gazed out at the growing storm, almost missing the flurry of brown that flashed through the streaks of rain to land in front of the glass. The blurry image of an eye and a beak could barely be made out but it was enough to know that a small bird was sitting outside her door in the middle of a violent storm. The bird continued to sit and look through the glass as she watched it. It was almost peaceful until a loud clap of thunder much closer than before had Chihiro jumping out of her skin while also waking the sleeping cat next to her. The cat scrambled from his sleeping place and landed with a heavy thud on the floor, darting under the bed until the only sign of him was a faint hissing. Chihiro looked back at the balcony to see nothing there, no sign that the little brown bird had ever been there.

Far away, a whole world away, a bathhouse was bathed in light. A mix of the moon's silver glow and artificial yellow light greeted the customers that streamed in and out of the grand entrance. Many a number of spirits flocked to this little piece of heaven everyday to indulge themselves on the baths and treatments that are offered, forgetting their worries and relaxing in the hands of the professional staff. A forest spirit walked through the entrance now, flicking her hair away from her face as she continued her story to the lake spirit whose mouth hung open and her eyes wide.

"So I flew right up to the window and there was the human-" A gasp interrupted the spirit and she looked to her friend whose already wide eyes were at the point of popping.

"I've never seen a human before, what was it like? Did it see you? Is it really as horrible and ugly as everyone says it is?" The lake spirit gushed, her words blending into one long row of unintelligible sounds as she tried to ask everything she could at once. As she stopped to take a breath the forest spirit took her chance and quickly started speaking again.

"It wasn't really much of anything; I would actually say it was sick when I found it." The forest spirit continued to describe the human to the lake spirit who kept asking questions whenever she could. They talked as they were led by a brown haired bath maid who was listening intently to their conversation.

"When I came back later the human was asleep, the lazy creature, it was already late morning. Someone had left the window open though so I went in for a closer look but all it did was mutter 'Haku' in its sleep." The lake spirit was staring at her in shock.

"You went into its den? What if it had woken up? And you don't think that she was talking about the Haku do you, as in the one that is somewhere in this bathhouse." She searched the others face wildly but was only met with a raised eyebrow.

The listening bath maid swept them towards their bath and hurried away after making a half hearted excuse that she needed to fetch something. From the hallway she could still make out the voice of the forest spirit reassuring her friend that a human could not possibly know anything about the spirit world, including a certain river spirit. The worker scoffed quietly at this and sped up her march towards the elevators, her mind travelling a mile a minute as she thought over what had been said. Inside the elevator was packed but she was still able to squeeze herself between a freezing cold ice spirit and the hard wall, earning glares from the other inhabitants who were now less than comfortable. The elevator began to make its smooth journey upwards, stopping at each floor to allow the patrons to enter and exit until the bath maid was the only one left as she headed for the top levels of the bathhouse. She paced back and forth growing impatient with the time that it was taking to reach the right floor. WHY CAN'T THIS THING MOVE ANY FASTER! Eventually the doors of the elevator began to creep open and the spirit charged out and into the polished hallway.

Straight ahead of her were the dark oak doors of the dragon's quarters. Ever since Chihiro had left the owner of those rooms had stayed mostly shut away behind the doors. He had become withdrawn and irritable, preferring to run his half of the bathhouse from seclusion. No one dared to disturb him in fear of incurring the dragon's wrath, no one but the spirit that was marching towards his doors that is, which was not an uncommon sight.

The sounds of the bathhouse drifted easily through the floors, yunas yelling for supplies, foremen greeting customers, it was all very noisy but none of the sounds seemed to disturb the spirit that stood looking out of his window. He gazed out towards the clear ocean, small waves licking at the shore leading up to where the constant flow of spirits filtered through the paths, a peaceful scene. All the light and colours blended into one though, his mind not truly focusing on anything but his wandering thoughts. Six years. It was constantly whispering through his mind, that small reminder that inspired so many more thoughts and wonders. How could I have let that time pass already? Maybe it is for the best, she has probably forgotten. Loud footsteps broke the dragon out of his thoughts and he growled as the soon to be dead spirit began banging loudly on his door,

"HAKU OPEN UP RIGHT NOW OTHERWISE I'M GOING TO BRING ONE OF THE BROOMS UP HERE AND STICK IT UP Y -" She cut herself off as the door slid open so he never found out where she was planning on sticking that broom. He turned towards her slowly, disappointed that his peace had been broken and he would have to face reality again. Lin stood in his doorway watching him carefully, the reprimand that he was about to give her faded as he noticed her face was unusually drained of colour and her eyes seemed strained.

"What do you want Lin, especially during peak work hours?" He sounded exhausted even to himself and her saw Lin's eyes soften slightly. Business was at its all-time high with more and more customers arriving each day, with this came more work for all of them but Haku was bearing most of it. He found himself drained of energy and irritable, his temper short and fiery but he was mostly too exhausted to act on it.

Lin stood there biting her lip and he could feel his temper rising. She seemed to be looking for the right words to say, her mouth opening and closing with failed attempts. Finally she drew in a steadying breath,

"I was serving a spirit and her friend in the baths and she was talking about her last visit to her home, a forest in the human world. She said she got curious and looked into one of the houses nearby. She saw a human, one she described to be exactly like Sen." She saw his mouth begin to open and she quickly talked over him, "And before you say that it could have been anyone the spirit said that the human said a name in her sleep, your name. The spirit also said that she was sick, like really sick. Oh, and you should have seen the face of the other spirit, I think you may have yourself an admirer dragon breath." Lin couldn't help teasing the dragon even in dire circumstances, anything to see the look on his face at the thought of another spirit worshiping his feet. His face quickly dropped though and he entered a state of deep thought and worry, his thoughts returning to the human that lay just out of his reach.

"Lin have that spirit watch over her for the next week, if she won't agree offer her payment or if that doesn't work send her to me. If her condition changes for the worse she is to report straight to me." With that Haku turned his back to Lin who hurried out of the room, closing the door none too gently, and back to the bath that she had left the two spirits in.

Walking around the corner and through the still partly open doors, Lin saw that the spirits were deep in conversation and seemed to not realize her presence. The forest spirits' hair was a deep red in colour that spread around her in the water, a contrast to the pale blonde piled on top of the lake spirits head. Their heads were bent close together as they whispered and giggled. Lin cleared her throat as she walked towards them and both of their heads snapped up to glare at her.

"I have come with a request from the Kohaku River spirit. He asks if you would be able to watch over the human that you found and to report back to him if her condition worsens." Lin looked at the forest spirit as she talked and watched as her eyebrows rose higher and higher.

"Well you can tell Kohaku that he can find someone else to run his errands, and also to hire staff that respects their client's privacy." The spirit was about to turn away and go back to ignoring her when Lin's next words stopped her.

"He's willing to pay you." Sly eyes met Lin's as she weighed up the offer, she opened her mouth to answer when the lake spirit cut her off.

"She'll do it, and without the pay." The other spirits words were good enough for Lin and she sped off before it could be changed. The forest spirits eyes slid over the girl next to her but was only greeted by a shrug,

"You're going to do it and you'll make sure that you put in a good word for me when you check in with Haku." She looked over to the forest spirit with pleading eyes that she knew her friend couldn't refuse; the forest spirit sighed heavily and cursed her luck under her breath.

"Fine, but I'm leaving now, meaning you're stuck with the bill since somebody had to add that last part of no payment." All she got was another shrug and a cheeky grin as she dressed and left the bathhouse.

Chihiro woke with a sharp jolt but her eyes remained tight shut, something was off, she could feel a presence in her room, one that wasn't supposed to be there. She cracked her eye open the tiniest slither and hoped whoever it was wouldn't notice. In her limited vision she could see a pair of high heeled boots that laced up the front, obviously attached to the feet of the intruder. A loud sigh filled her room that confirmed that it was a female but it didn't make her feel the slightest bit better.

"You can open your eyes now, I know you're awake." The voice was light but held an intensity that made every word a command. Chihiro slid her eyes fully open and stared at the women leant casually against her wall. Dark red hair fell in soft waves to her waist; she was tall, even without the heels Chihiro guessed the stranger would still be a head taller than her, her eyes stood out the most though, dark green eyes that seemed to shift colours like leaves in a gentle breeze. She was dressed strangely, fitted pants tucked into her boots matched with a sleeveless shirt decorated with silver embroidery, depicting a pattern of an elegant tree. Clothing more suited to the spirit world, Chihiro groaned lowly at the thought.

She continued to stare at the woman who stood looking curiously around her room, Chihiro tried to speak but all that came out was a rough noise that made her want to cringe. The woman looked back at her and a flash of sympathy and wonder passed over her face but faded quickly in the glare that Chihiro threw at her. She pushed herself off of the wall and made to move forward stepping closer to the human, but a hiss from behind Chihiro caused her to falter as distaste filled her features.

"Horrible creature. So, human, I bet you're wondering who I am, I am Nichimori or Taiyo for short. I am here on request of the Kohaku river spirit when he asked a favor to watch over you, naturally I didn't wish to but here I am." The woman looked over her with a critical eye, "I really don't see why though." She took one last look at the human before moving over to the glass doors standing open to allow the cool breeze to draft through the room. There was a lull in the rain, a brief break before the next clouds rolled in heavy with water that would fall from them. She looked back over her shoulder,

"You'd better start recovering soon. I don't want this to be more of a hassle than it needs to be." And with that Taiyo changed in a flash of green light, a little brown sparrow fluttered out of the doors in her place.

Chihiro closed her eyes with a sigh, however brief the encounter it had exhausted her, leaving her tired but with unsettling thoughts that wouldn't stay left untouched. The Kohaku river spirit, Haku. But no, it can't be. He would have seen everything if he was, known how nothing is right for me here. He would have come by now if he was, he wouldn't of broken his promise. She lied.

With those thoughts drifting through her mind Chihiro fell into a thankfully dreamless sleep.