Chapter 9

RECAP:

He had been in this dry cell for one and a half days now. Haku dropped his head, hearing his stomach growl. "Damn it…" he muttered. "Why do I care about her so much…" He closed his eyes, his hair falling into his face.

-about 24 hours later-

Quite predictably, Sen had zero fighting ability. They found that out quickly after Ezera suddenly tackled poor Sen which resulted in tangled limbs, a shout or two, and a couple of blind punches.

Ezera was trying very hard to keep her laughter in at Sen's klutziness. "I… I don't understand… I just don't!" Ezera exclaimed.

Sen shrugged, shuffling her feet awkwardly. "I mean, I'm good at like… Um…" She put her hand on her chin. "Washing floors?"

Ezera shrugged, frowning. "I'm sure with, like, 5 years of practice we can get you up in ship shape…" She squatted down on the ground, resting her chin on her forearm. "But we don't have that time."

Sen winced slightly at Ezera's blinding skin. "Yeah, I realized." Sen paused. "Also…" She began, "This is backwards, isn't it?"

Ezera frowned. "What do you mean?"

Sen sighed. "I feel like… He should be the one saving me." She sat down next to her. "I'm nothing. I'm nothing to him. He's nothing to me; why is it me? Nobody asked me. I didn't ask for this." She sighed again, frustrated. "I just wish… This could have happened to somebody else."

Ezera suddenly stood up. "You know what, Chihiro?" She hissed. "This is the real world. Okay? This is it. There's nothing you can do about it. So stop sulking." Tears welled up in her eyes, but they looked more like liquid stars. "Take it or leave it. Because Haku needs saving, and you just happen to be the only person who can do it for him," she snapped. "So you need to get it through your skull that you're soulmates." Her voice broke a little at that sentence. Then she paused, taking a breath. "If you decide that you're not gonna be selfish anymore, come find me," she huffed, stalking away.

Sen, needless to say, was stunned. Did Ezera… Love Haku? "Wait!" She called. Ezera stopped, turning slowly. Her skin, with it's usual glow, was pulsing angrily.

"…What?"

Sen stood up. "I'm… I'm sorry," she said, walking closer. "I know I'm complaining a lot and I'm being selfish… But I'm just not used to it… This much adventure, this much pressure. It's a lot for me to handle, but I swear to you," she said, putting her hands on Ezera's shoulders. "I will not let you down."

Ezera wiped her bright tears away from her eyes. "I'm sorry I burst out at you like that…" She smiled softly. "It's just that… Haku and I have history…"

Sen felt a small, strange feeling in her heart. Jealousy? "Were you… together?" She bit her lip.

Ezera's eyes widened. "Oh." She raised an eyebrow, her lips set in a tight frown. "Oh my goddess," she sputtered. "You're a few centimetres off the mark," she replied. Sen couldn't help it; She felt a twinge of relief. Unfortunately, Ezera sensed it too.

"Is that a little relief I sense?" Ezera teased, a smile creeping back to her face. She pointed a slim finger at Sen. "I see how it is…"

Sen's cheeks flared. "No! Of course not! I mean… Maybe I felt something but it's probably not jealously!" Sen then decided it would be a good idea to change the subject. "So anyway… What was this history?"

Ezera's smile fell from her face. "Let's have some tea… Shall we?"

-meawhile-

The heavy steel doors slammed open, dust flying from the breeze. Haku raised his head painfully. "What do you want?" He sneered.

The old woman raised an eyebrow. "I came to give you food, ungrateful brat," she spat, dropping a bun of sorts in front of him. The bun was hard and frightfully mouldy, causing a questionably loud sound when it hit the floor.

Snapping her fingers, a stool floated in the room and stationed itself in front of Haku. Yubaba sat down on the stool, crossing her arms. She kicked the bun toward him. "Eat it," she commanded.

Haku looked up at her. "…No."

Yubaba's face was etched with annoyance. "If you're not going to eat it, I'll make you." She pointed her finger at the bun, lifting it from the dirty ground. She flicked her wrist to the right, breaking the bun into smaller pieces. Yubaba smiled, sickeningly sweet. "As much as I would like it, I'm not allowed to let you choke to death." With another flick of her wrist, she forced the smaller piece of bread into his mouth. He gagged at the taste, bitter and unavoidable. It spread around his mouth thickly, his tongue instinctively recoiling at the bread.

Uncaring, Yubaba slowly shoved the bread down his throat, forcing him to swallow. "Good boy," she muttered. She broke another piece off, and began the same routine.

—

Haku yanked violently for the 100th time at the shackles that held him fast, the echoes of the thick metal chains echoing in the cold, dusty cell. The constant violent tugs at the chains left his wrists bloody and raw, and his ankles were bruised and probably sprained. His mouth was still coated thickly with the bitter taste of the bread. He winced at the constant throbbing at his wrists. He loathed himself at this moment. What was he doing here, bruised and bloody? Why had he made the foolish decision to chase after her? He sighed, hopelessly letting his arms go slack against the cold stone walls. She was just a servant, after all.

She's not just any girl.

Haku's head snapped up, the chains rattling. "Who said that?" he said hoarsely.

She's supposed to be yours.

Haku jerked around, the mysterious voice echoing around the cell. "Who's there?" He shouted. "Show yourself!" He jerked at his chains, despite the rawness of his wrists. "Sen?"

You let her go.

Haku heard a laugh sweet, light, and uncaring. Strangely real, yet unreal. And the worst part was: He recognized that laugh.

It belonged to Sen.

But Haku wasn't that stupid. "I don't know what you slipped into the food but it's not going to work!" He shouted.

And then there she was. In front of him. Haku couldn't help it; he felt relief run through him. He knew it was fake. It had to be fake. But the realness of her standing in front of him was almost too much for him to handle, and he just couldn't tell why.

And then she smiled. It was so bright, so happy, so pure. Haku almost let himself fall for her.

She made eye contact with him, her beautiful deep orbs gazing into his. He was so close. So close. But then, suddenly, she turned away to a familiar red-haired man.

Glancing at him for but a second, he turned to Rai. Rai smirked at Haku. "You let her go," he sneered.

Haku felt a growl deep in his throat. "I didn't," he muttered.

Sen smirked. She stepped closer to Rai. Much to Haku's annoyance, he wrapped his arm around her and her arms slinked around his waist. She leaned into him. Haku felt a surge of jealousy. He growled, his heart pumping. He didn't know what to think. It looked so real. "Get away from her," he sneered, unthinkingly allowing himself to fall into the hallucination.

Rai smiled. "…Nah," he said, before crashing his lips to Sen's. Her pale slender hands reached up and began running them through Rai's fiery hair. He slinked his arms down her back and pulled her flush against him. She giggled, the sound echoing against the solid walls like bells, ringing in Haku's ears.

"NO!" Haku screamed, yanking at the chains harder than ever. "GET AWAY FROM HER," he screamed, helpless against the chains. Instinctively, the only thought that was running through his head was: "That should be me."

Rai finally pulled his mouth off hers. "Excuse me?" He said, mocking offense. "This is your fault," he said.

Haku gave up, slumping against the chains. It was his fault. He didn't protect her enough.

He let her go.

—

"Do you like it?" Ezera smiled from across the short table. They were both kneeling on the ground across from each other, sipping the strange, bright blue tea from the teacups.

"I do," Sen replied, "It's delicious." Ezera smiled sadly.

"Well," she said, sighing. "I guess we shall get to the point."

Sen nodded eagerly. "Are you sure you're ok telling me this?"

Ezera shrugged. "I mean, it's not anything incriminating," she replied, her shoulders slumping. "Ok, well, it starts around 6 years ago… I believe Haku was 20 years old," she began.

Sen swallowed. She just realized then that she never knew exactly how old Haku was. Let alone him being 7 years older than her.

Ezera continued. "Well, it was the beginning of the war and Haku had just become popular in the empire. He never knew me, but I knew him well. At this time, I was very close to a certain someone who didn't know who I really was. You could say I loved him." Her voice cracked as she blinked away tears. "To him, I was just some strange girl he befriended when he was a child. I made myself look older through the years so he wouldn't find out about me, and before I knew it I..." She sighed, never finishing the sentence. Ezera swirled her tea around in her cup. "But he loved someone else."

Sen almost choked on her tea.

"He was in love with Haku."

This time, Sen really did choke on her tea. "Sorry, what?" Sen blurted out. "With Haku?"

Ezera smiled bitterly. "A strange love story, don't you think?"

Sen nodded slowly. "I mean... I've never heard of a man falling for another man," she mused.

Ezera shrugged. "With Haku's face, how could you not?" She said teasingly as Sen cringed. "His name was Yuu."

Sen gulped. The tense of that sentence made everything feel heavy.

"He was in Haku's army, as all men were to be at the time, and he worked hard to get up the ranks," Ezera continued. "They fought together, side by side and he became one of Haku's best soldiers," she said, biting her bottom lip. "And then he was killed in battle."

The bluntness of those words stunned Sen. "I'm - I'm so sorry, Ezera."

Ezera blinked away tears from an old memory still fresh in her mind. "It was six years ago."

Sen placed a hand on Ezera's shoulder. "It wasn't your fault he died," she stated firmly. Ezera looked up at her, her eyes glittering.

"Oh, but it was," she whispered back. "I had always been watching over Yuu in battle. I never had to do anything, but I was always there just in case," she said. "I watched over him and Haku both." Her eyes became downcast. "But that battle... That battle was the day after he confessed his love for Haku to me. And I was upset, so I chose not to watch over him for that one battle, thinking he could hold his own like he usually could."

"Ezera... It wasn't your fault," Sen repeated, her voice genuine.

Ezera hastily swiped her tears away. "It's in the past now," Ezera murmured. "I can't change it." She suddenly jumped up, almost spilling the tea. Her eyes glinted."But we can change the future."

Sen looked up at her questioningly, shocked at her apparent mood change. "What? What is it?"

"Screw the training," Ezera muttered, a slow, mischievous grin creeping across her face. "I have a better idea."

Everyone go and thank 4evrDorkly17 for shooting me a PM basically begging me to write more, even though this has been on hiatus for the longest time.

It's good to be back.

- Jo