Disclaimer: I don't own Spirited Away.

A greeting full of promises, the dark goodbye-hello

The full moon hung heavy in the sky the night that everything changed, looking almost as if it could come tumbling down at any moment to crash into the bay. It's light thick and almost tangible in the still summer air. And Chihiro felt as if she were weaving through clouds as she brought all her wares in from the darkness; the entire town slowly closing down for the night as revelers and festival goers faded away in the shadows of tail lights that streaked across the winding roads in trails of bright, shining red that glimmered like rubies in the dark as they speed off to who knows where.

She'd loved nights like these ever since she was a young girl; the magic of them. Not the festivals themselves, but the after. The lanterns hanging high above the streets and distant notes of laughter; nameless voices that clung to the air belaying lives she'd never know, and the remnants of their inhabitance that littered the place. A forgotten hair band on the sidewalk, or a wrapper from a childs favorite piece of candy.

She never wanted the sun to rise; she wanted to live perpetually in that midnight hour for the rest of her life. It was so full of promise; goodbyes in the dark that made her sigh in wistfulness as she watched them from her stand, and even greater -the hellos. The first meeting she was so privileged to witness occur. The beginnings.

Little did she know, as she flipped the sign on her window to 'closed', that this was the beginning of her own goodbye. And her own hello.

Note: Hello there, readers both old and new. This is my second Spirited Away story, so if you haven't read Ablution, please do, it's one of the top ten most popular stories for this fandom, and hopefully will be able to tide you over while i'm writing this one. As for return readers, welcome back! I hope you all enjoy this story as much as everything else I've written.