Here's chapter four! Thank you all for being so patient, hope you enjoy it :)

Of course I do not own any part of Spirited Away or the characters.

I start to feel sweat dripping down my face, it's so hot almost unbarable. My body is burning up but I can't stop now, I've come too far. I have to finish, I'm so close I can feel it. My body tenses up as my work comes to an end. The feeling of relief takes over me and I start to breathe heavy. I close my eyes and fan my face with my own hand. The once pure dress I had on is now covered in sweat and stains, I wonder if it'll all come out in the wash. I turn to face my friend and smile, she also knows I worked too hard to get to where I am. "Well done Chihiro." She says with a chuckle then leans in close to tussle my hair. "It smells amazing!" She says taking in a big wiff.

I open my eyes and hold out my hands, in them is a completed plate of Udon noodles with beef strips and veggies, in the other is a bowl of Miso soup with tofu. A lot of steam is still coming off of the plates, normally they would be too hot to hold but considering how many burns I received while cooking this heat is nothing. Lin grabs both plates and places them on the counter, she takes a spoon and tries both dishes. She is silent at first but then jumps up high in the air raising her arms. "Alright Chihiro! This tastes amazing! It's even better than when I make it, Haku will surely be impressed!" She takes another bite and passes the plates over to me. I taste the soup first and man even I have to say it was good. The broth didn't feel heavy at all in my stomach and the seasonings blended in perfectly with each other. Same with the beef Udon, the meat was tender and not overpowering. The noodles weren't bland but didn't over season the dish in its entirety. Even the veggies were cooked to perfection, not too hard but not too soft either. Lin and I soon finish the plates and start to wash up. "I'm surprised it only took you two tries. Especially for someone whos had no prior experience." Lin says with a wink. She fills the sink and throws all of the pots and pans inside to soak overnight. "Well I am kind of a fast learner, I was the top student in my class, top female in my entire grade." At first I was proud of myself and all of my success but then reality struck me for a moment. When will I be going back to school? Will I ever go back? I wonder if any of the students are looking for me, Sensei must be furious. Daichi is probably telling everyone some lie about how he rejected me and now I'm too ashamed to show my face. I don't want to go back yet but the longer I stay here the further I'll fall behind. I don't want to get kicked out of school either. "Hey Chihiro, are you okay?" Lin snaps me back into the kitchen. "Yeah, just thinking about some stuff. It's all good though." I give out a small laugh, Lin raises an eyebrow and goes back to cleaning up. After a few more minutes of organizing and sanitizing we finally wipe our hands dry.

"Look at the time, it's already nine. Haku should be finishing up his work by now, I'll go get him so you guys can eat together." Lin says walking out the door. "Wait!" I shout and run over to her. "You've helped me enough for today, I'll get him myself." I say opening the door for Lin. "Are you sure? Haku can be kind of a dick when he's in the middle of something important." Lin saying that made me think back to when Haku and I were in the room alone together earlier. He did seem pretty angry when we were interrupted, but does that mean he considers me 'work'? Maybe I'm just over thinking things, besides he can't be that bad. I shake my head and smile "Really it's okay, I'll get him. You go take a bath and rest." Lin waits another second and shrugs "Alright, he should be in his office by now. The same room you two were in earlier. If you get lost just ask someone where the head office is. They'll be hesitant at first, so tell them you're a personal guest of Master Haku and trust me they will send you in the right direction. Hell, they'll probably have someone escort you there. Anyways I'll see you later, good job today." Lin closes the door behind her and starts to walk down the hall but stops. She comes back, pokes her head in once again "You should probably change your clothes before you get him though." She laughs at me and closes the door again leaving me alone in the kitchen. I look down and notice that my dress really IS a mess. I walk over to the sink and wash my face, hands and even some sauce out of my hair. How in the world could I have gotten this dirty? I finish cleaning myself up and start to make my way to the changing room. Once inside I carefully pick my change of clothes, I don't want to look like a slob but I also don't want to give off the impression that I'm trying too hard either. Finally I decide on a blouse and skirt, both of matching print. Black with flowers all over. The skirt was high waisted and the top was cropped. About an inch of mid-drift was revealed and the shirt gave off some cleavage but not too much. Just enough to know it's there. The skirt fanned out towards the bottom and came down to just above my knees. I put on a simple pair of black flats that had a black bow in the middle. I take a glance in the mirror and even give a little spin, "Damn, I look good." I say to myself and immediately burst out laughing. I straighten my hair out, give myself one last look before I heading out. Down the hall I go to the office, I count down the doors until I reach my destination. Quietly I knock to not disturb whoever is inside but I get no response. I knock again a bit louder, no response. Finally I knock pretty damn hard and just as I'm about to give my last hard knock the door flies open. "WHAT?" Haku shouts before realizing who's standing in front of him. I guess he could see the fear in my face because at that moment his eyes shot wide open and shock takes over his body. "Chihiro… I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you." His eyes soften and he puts a hand on my shoulder. "No I'm sorry, I shouldn't be disturbing you while you're working but…" My eyes start to wander out of nervousness and out of habit I start to twirl my hair. "What is it? Do you need something?" He asks in a gently voice while rubbing my shoulder. "No not really, I was just wondering if you had some free time to-" I'm cut off though, Haku stops rubbing my shoulder. "Sorry but I'm actually really busy right now, whatever it is do you think it can wait until later?" He says in a stern voice. I hear some type of noise come from inside the room and I try to peek my head in to see what's going on inside. "Is there someone with you Haku?" I ask, my heart drops completely as he avoids my eyes. "No just me, something must have just fell over. Again do you need me for anything?" He asks closing the door behind him a bit to block my view. "Well, not really I was just wondering if you were hungry cause I-" Cut off again. "No I'm not hungry. Sorry but I really have to get back to work." He steps back into the room and closes the door in front of me. I'm completely stunned, why is he acting so cold towards me? Not at all like the Haku I was with this morning. After a few seconds I turn to walk back to my room when I hear a voice. It's of a woman but I can't tell her age. "What was that all about?" The woman says in a teasing voice. "Nothing, let's get back to business." Haku says in a cheerful voice. From then on all I can hear is muffled so I can't make anything else out. I take a deep breath and walk back to my room. Who was that woman inside and why was he hiding her from me? Or was he hiding me from her? Either way why was he so cold to me, why did he act as if I was nothing? My heart starts to sink deeper and a sick feeling forms in my stomach. Why do I feel this way? He's not my boyfriend or anything, I don't love him. Hell, I don't even know him! Yet… why does my heart hurt right now. Why does it feel broken? I go back to my room and lay down in the bed and begin to sob. Bringing the pillow next to me closer I try to silence my crying to not bring attention to myself. What happened between us? Why did he change so fast?

-Back to Lin-

"Man that bath was so relaxing! But it also made me hungry, maybe Chihiro still has some Udon leftover." Lin walks down the hall and over towards the kitchen all while towel drying her hair. She opens the kitchen door and steps inside, the cold wood floor felt nice on her warm feet. She can still smell the delicious food in the air, her mouth waters as she approaches the pots still resting on top of the stove. "All right let's see what we have…Wait what?" Lin says as she opens the lids to see the pots still as full as before. Both dishes hadn't been so much as touched yet, she closes them back up and looks up at the clock. "It's almost ten thirty, it shouldn't have taken her that much time to get ready?" Lin turns around and walks out of the kitchen in a hurry and down the hall.

-Back to Chihiro!-

My eyes are still really red and watery but at least I've stopped crying. Even if we don't eat together I still have to put away the leftovers. I can't just lay here all night..but I really don't want to risk running into Haku again, he already seemed bothered by me earlier. I turn over in my bed and stare at the ceiling, the room is so quiet and peaceful I could fall asleep just like this. *KNOCK KNOCK* My shoot up in my bed and look towards the door. I slide out of bed and hesitantly open the door to see an angry Lin in front of me. "Lin? What's going on?" I sleeply say rubbing one eye to not let her notice how irritated they are from crying. "What's going on? I could ask you the same thing, you're in bed and the food is still in the kitchen. I thought you were going to eat with Haku? You worked so hard on making it, did you get tired?" She says leaning against the door frame. I hesitate in answering because I don't want to lie to her but I don't want to cause any problems either. Lin raises an eyebrow and I can notice her getting impatient. "Well?" She asks leaning in to hear my answer. "Nothing, I just well. He's too busy so I'll just take it to him later. I don't want to be a bother to him, it's okay. I'll just make him something else some other time." I look down as I finish my sentence to hide my watery eyes but of course Lin is too smart to be fooled by that. She grabs my face his her hand and forces me to look her in the eye. "Why are you crying? And by the look of your eyes, why were you crying before? And this time tell me the truth." Her face is serious and her tone is furious, I might not know Lin that much but I can already tell she really doesn't like liars. "Nothing just Haku was busy so I came back here, I'm just overreacting is all. I'm probably still emotional from yesterday, really." I say pulling my face away and wiping my eyes dry. Lin stands up straight and crosses her arms "So you're telling me that you went to get Haku and he said he was too busy?" She tilts her head waiting for me to reply. I take a deep breath before opening my mouth, "Yes… but it's really okay Lin, I'm fine!" I reassure her but that wasn't enough for Lin I guess. "Stay here, don't leave this room do you understand?" Before I can even get a word in Lin closes the door in my face and I can hear her stomping down the hall. Before long her stomps become faint and disappear completely.

I sit back on my bed look around the room. How long am I supposed to stay in here? There's nothing to do?! I sit quietly for a while then get up and stretch my legs. I walk around and start going through all of the drawers again to see if I can find something to occupy my time. I open one drawer, empty. I open another and find nothing but some paper and a couple of pens. I take them out and begin to doodle, dragons of course. I start to draw a dragon underwater and another emerging from the water. I soon become tired of my masterpieces and toss them in the trash. Still bored I continue to rummage through the drawers. Finally I get to one that catches my eye. It looks exactly like the others except this one is locked. I try to open it but it won't budge, maybe there is a key nearby? I search high and low but find no sign of the key anywhere, I use one of the pens to try and pick it open but I am unsuccessful. By now at least twenty minutes have gone by and start to get EXTREMELY bored. I resort to making some simple origami out of the leftover paper when I hear another knock at the door this one though is soft and slow compared to Lin's pounding earlier. I get up and walk over to the door, I reach for the handle but stop myself. Instead of opening the door I lean up close against it, "Who's there?" I quietly ask. A few seconds go by before I hear a response. "It's me, Haku. Can you please open the door?" I almost fall back on my ass after hearing that. Panic comes over me and I quickly begin to fix my skirt and hair. A few deep breaths to soothe my nerves, I take one final deep breath and swing open the door. My eyes are automatically drawn to the tray in front of me, on it are two glasses of water, a bowl of soup, and a bowl of Udon Beef noodles. You can tell they're very cold and don't look all that fresh. I look up to see Haku, turning his face away from me to try and hide his red cheeks. Is Haku blushing? Like really blushing?! "Can I c-come in?" He says with a small stutter, nothing like his usual confident self. I step to the side to let him in and he places the tray down on top of the desk and pulls up two chairs. "Haku, what are you doing?" I ask watching him in complete confusion. "I'm setting up the table so we can eat." He says gesturing over to the chair besides him so I can sit down. I walk over and sit besides him, just as he's about to take his first bite I stop his hand with my own. "Haku you don't have to eat that, it's old and cold." I say pulling his hand away from his mouth. He places his chopsticks down and faces me. Still avoiding eye contact he places a hand on my knee, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you away earlier. You worked so hard on preparing this food for me and I turned you away. I don't care if it is cold, I'm sure it will be just as delicious." He picks his chopsticks back up and takes his first bite. I tense up waiting for his response, for a moment Haku is still. He doesn't say anything or even move, after a while he slowly looks up at me into my eyes. "It's good." He says, I swear I almost saw a sparkle in his eyes. "It's REALLY good, I can't believe this is a few hours old, it tastes amazing. Better than my own cooking, better than the chefs downstair!" He soon almost swallows the plate whole and gulps down the soup within only a few seconds. "Wow that was really good, I can't remember the last time I had a real meal like that." He wipes his mouth and places the plates back onto the tray. I guess he noticed my silence because he then placed a hand on my cheek, "Chihiro? Is everything alright? You're not saying anything." He asks sweetly as he turns my face towards his own. My face is both happy and sad at the same time, small tears are forming in my eyes and I clench my fists against my legs. "Nothing is wrong, I'm just so relieved. I thought you were mad at me all this time. I was so scared that you didn't want to be around me anymore." I give out a smile and a single tear falls down my cheek. At this his eyes open wide and he instantly pulls me closer and wraps his arms around me tight. "Haku what are you doing?!" I try to pull away from him but he only holds me tighter. "How could you ever think that?!" He shouts at me, at first I thought he was angry but now I see he's not mad, he's hurt. "You're the one person here who brings me any true happiness, how could I EVER not want to be around you?! Chihiro I lo-..." He stops mid sentence and slowly pulls me away to face him but turns his face away. My eyes widen as I begin to understand what he was about to say, my hands slowly slide up and softly caress his face turning it back towards mine. "Haku, I don't know how but I feel like I've known you for a hundred years. I'm only at peace when I'm with you. The past day with you has been the happiest I have ever been in my life. Call me crazy but I can't stop thinking about you, I can't stop wanting to be near you. You're my drug and god it feels so damn good when you're with me. I don't know how but I think… I think I love you." I shut my eyes tight for a moment out of shyness. The entire room is still, the only thing you can hear is our faint breathing and our hearts pounding. I slowly open my eyes to meet him. His eyes are open wide, almost as if he was shocked. Shocked that what I had just said was the very last thing he was expecting to come out of my mouth. His jaw is hanging slightly open and I don't even think he took a breath. Just as I'm about to open my mouth to say something else he crashes into me, throwing his lips onto my own and the battle begins. With one hand around my neck and the other on my arm Haku pulls me closer, deeper into the kiss. He forcefully slips his tongue into my mouth and searches every inch inside of me. We break for air and I can see fire in his eyes but this fire is different than the one I saw before. This isn't anger or hate, this is lust and desire. We take deep breaths before he picks me up and wraps my legs around his hip. He slams me against the wall and continues to kiss me feverishly. I can feel his hands begin to explore my body and god it feels so good. His hands are like fire on my ice cold skin making goosebumps form all over my exposed skin. Haku releases my mouth and licks me from my jaw all the way down my neck. He bites me hard on my collarbone and licks his way back up. I can feel him begin to harden against me as I give out a small moan, bad idea. It only set him off more, he lets out a quiet growl and lifts me off the wall. He walks us over to the bed and tosses me on top of it. Without a moment spared he's back on me, kissing me all over. Our breathing gets heavy and I reach to take off his shirt, he sits up in front of me and slowly lifts his shirt off. Holy crap, his whole body was like amazing from his shoulders to his v-line. Every part of his body, chest, arms, stomach, back was covered in muscles. Not an ounce of fat on the boy's body. I look him up and down and suddenly I'm the one who is set off. I sit up to meet his and begin to kiss his neck and chest, my hands explore every inch of his upper body. I even take a moment to scratch my nails down his back and I did learn one thing. Haku likes pain. He let out a groan, grabbed the bottom of my top and practically ripped it off my body. He took a moment to take in my exposed chest then slowly cupped my breasts with his hands and began to message them. I let out a loud moan which he liked very much because he then started to massage them with a bit more force. Our bodies are beginning to sweat and the room is becoming unbearably hot but neither of us care. The only thing we care about are the few articles of clothing that are keep us apart. I lay back down onto the bed and Haku holds himself up on top of me, I wrap my legs around his waist and start to grind against him. He's already hard and I'm already wet. "God Chihiro…" He says in a husky voice as I grind against him harder. He lifts up from me long enough to slip my skirt off and throw it off the bed, he uses his hands to rub against every curve of my body from my chest down to my thighs. He opens my legs slightly and slips his hand in between. Slowly he makes his way from my outter thigh to my inner core. Gently he begins to rub me but gives out a cocky laugh "You're already wet." I blush at his words and try to turn my face away but he takes my mouth with his own again and continues to play with my clit. I can feel my orgasm building up and I lose control "Haku please don't stop!" I shout, screw it if people can hear me I don't care right now. My moans fill up the entire room and right when I'm on the edge I hear a voice "I knew you liked it Chi" Daichis voice fills my ears and I begin to scream uncontrollably.

Haku quickly stops and backs away from me, I guess he was scared that he had hurt me. I cover my ears and tears begin to fall down my face as I keep screaming out of fear. "Chihiro?! What's wrong?! Chihiro!" He shouts at me, by the look of his face you could tell he was terrified. I bring my legs in close to me and continue to cry, my entire body is shaking like crazy. All I can see are flashbacks from yesterday's horrific events. Haku puts his hands on my shoulders to try and calm me but the moment our skin touches he notices be jump. Haku retracts his hand quickly, no matter what he says or does the tears just keep coming. "CHIHIRO PLEASE! What's wrong!?" He shouts over my crying, I could also tell that he was shaking too. In between my whimpers I find the strength to speak "Dai-daichi! I hear him in my head! I see him touching me! Please make it stop Haku, I'm so scared!" I yell looking up into Haku's eyes. His face said it all, confusion, frustration, sadness, anger, helplessness. How would it feel to see someone you love in so much pain but not be able to do anything to help them. I continue to cry and shake my head as if I'm trying to shake his voice out of my brain. Haku pulls me closer to him and starts to rub my back "It's o-okay." His voice is shaky, "I-I'm here n-now. You don't have to b-be scared. I'll p-protect you. He's gone. It's alright. I love you." He continues to whisper into my ear until my breathing returned to normal. I slowly slump into his arms and hold onto his body tight. "Please don't leave me tonight." I ask feeling pathetic "Please don't leave me tonight, I don't want to be alone please. I need you with me tonight." I say in between quiet sobs and sniffles but he doesn't say anything back, he just smiles at me. I feel Haku lean down and kiss the top of my head. That's all I needed, I didn't need words, I already know he's going to stay with me. Knowing that gave me enough of a stable mind to calm myself down. We sat there for a while, both in shock of what had just happened. I guess we both thought it was 'no big deal' what had happened to me, but obviously there is still so much work to be done before we can move on from this horrible incident. I feel Haku's grip tighten on me, I look up to meet his eyes but this time there were tears. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, I'm sorry I couldn't stop him before it was too late. I wasn't there for you, how could you ever forgive me?" He says in a quiet and depressed voice. "Haku please don't, not right now. I can't take anymore sadness please. Just for right now, smile for me." I sob into his chest. It was true I couldn't take anymore sadness, especially from him. He's my rock and I need him to be strong when I can't. I feel his grip tighten even more and then loosen up. "Okay, for you. For you I will smile." He says looking down upon me, his serious face slowly turns into a small smile. There is still so much sadness in his eyes but at least he's trying for me… and that's all I can ask for right now. Carefully he lays me down under the covers and turn out the light. We cuddle in close with each other and get comfortable. I feel him stroking my arm and giving me soft kisses on the head and shoulder. As I scoot in closer to him I feel him wrap his arms around me and squeeze me tight while letting out a big sigh. "I love you Chihiro, so much. I'll never let anything bad happened to you ever again, I promise." He gives me one last kiss on the head before laying back onto his pillow and closing his eyes. "I trust you." I say slowly closing my eyes and before I know it everything goes dark. I begin to feel at peace again, just like the first time I fell asleep in his arms. A feeling, I will never get tired of.

Chapter 5 to come soon ~