Thank you all for hanging in there and sticking with me for this story. Special shout out to everyone who has ever reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. You all are helping me find the confidence to continue. I do read and reread (multiple times) all of your reviews!

Guest- Thank you for taking the time to read everything so far. I know its a lot. I hope you are able to stay for the rest of it.

Guest - I think it's awesome that you have caught on to some of the psychology elements/ nuances I have added to this story. Trauma is so multifaceted and I am not always sure I can write about the complexities in a way that honors the journey a person has to go through to rise above it. Your review helps me to think that I might have been able to achieve that. Thank you!

picklesisadeadcat- Thank you for being one of my most consistent reviewers since I started! Yes, I keep putting Chihiro and Haku through a lot... But they will be better for it. Trust me ;) As for hospital visits, I totally feel you on that one! They can me very bittersweet.

Lightsoceress- Thank you for being a consistent reviewer! Thank you for your encouragement. Writing parent with adult children relationships can be challenging, you review gives me the confidence that I was able to achieve the balance I was aiming for.

Haley Aero Potter - your reviews make me laugh out loud! Thank you for your enthuthiasm! You remind me that this is a labor of fun!

Chapter 28 - Yubaba's Gift

Yubaba sat, back drinking sake, watching the chaos of her bathhouse unfold. Dragons were such drama queens. Her large bulbous brown eyes surreptitiously looked towards her sister.

Nope. She hadn't suspected it either. It just proved that she really was the more clever one. But this, unlike the prophecy, this she would not share with her twin. She hadn't been planning on sharing it with Kohaku either, but it didn't appear if her bathhouse would survive another of his tantrums. Never again would she take on a dragon as an apprentice. They were more trouble than they were worth.

"Oh look, Lord Senka has incapacitated him again." Yubaba thought as she took another sip. She watched unnoticed as Lord Senka magicked away his wayward son. "Seriously Kohaku, it been two days." she mumbled.

"Oh sister, his heart is breaking, and he must be so worried about her. You know that Dean suspected that she was being hunted." Tisked Zeniba. "We only have a hint about the prophecy, though I do agree with you, we should keep that hidden from him, it would be too cruel if our suspicions ended up not being true."

Did Zeniba actually believe half the crap she said? Yubaba wondered. Zeniba and Kohaku had a tenuous relationship at best. There was no love lost between the two of them. Zeniba did, however, love Sen.

Flinching when she heard another pile of dishes crash to the floor as the shelves fell from the wall that Kohaku had been smashing himself against, she came to her decision. Enough was enough. Her magic could only fix so much. Silently Yubaba, lifted her hefty frame and made it to the back door without anyone noticing.

Kohaku better be grateful.

Kohaku slowly opened his eyes. The pounding in his head was the only thing that distracted him from the gaping, invisible wound in his chest. The bond between him and Chihiro had been severed. It had grown much too fast, and now it was no more, leaving him to feel as if he were dying. His betrayal from Giselle hadn't hurt this much. Not the pain directly related to losing Giselle; he hadn't really loved her.

Not like he did Chihiro. He couldn't even blame her for breaking the bond. Not when her expression and kiss had explained the impossible choice she had been forced to make. If it had been other other way around, he probably would have done the same...

Maybe that was why it hurt so much. They both loved each other and they were never going to be given a chance.

Closing his eyes, he stopped his mind from continuing those thoughts.

Lord Senka was wanting him back on the frontlines, but hesitating, not wanting him to stupidly fight and get himself killed. While a small part of him, the juvenile part, who wanted to cause pain. The "serves you right part." wasn't going to win this time. Kohaku would not allow himself to fall back into despair. There was no strange poison with wreaking havoc on his mental process; he knew that today was the last day he could give himself to grieve. Tomorrow, the cool, collected, commander would emerge in time to meet with his generals.

That was the way it would be.

But tonight….

Kohaku rolled over, he hadn't really been fully conscious of the fact that he had made it back up to his rooms and was currently lying on his futon. The same futon that Chihiro slept on. Taking a deep inhalation, he realised that the bedding still smelled like her. He took another deep breath.

"Are you really sniffing the sheets?" Yubaba's voice stopped Kohaku mid-action.

Rolling on to his side, he peered up at the witch standing by his built in kitchen counter. He mildly wondered when she had let herself in and if he should be affronted. But it was Yubaba, so instead he rolled back over to his stomach. Head back lying on the futon he spoke. "What do you want Yubaba? I will be leaving soon, and chances are I will be killed, so you get your beloved bathhouse back."

"Seriously, Kohaku?" Her tone wasn't buying it.

"Leave me alone. I have nothing more to say." Kohaku buried his head back into the sheets. If he happened to catch another whiff of Chihiro, so be it.

"That's fine, because I am not really interested in what you have to say." Yubaba stayed the course.

When Kohaku refused to rise to her bait. Yubaba rolled her eyes. Lord Senka had obviously spoiled the boy. The Kohaku who had been her apprentice would never have thrown this type of tantrum. At least he was back in his humanoid form. His dragon form had always been feral and instinct driven. Luckily, he had transformed into his more rational humanoid form since being transported to his chambers.

"You know, if you had stayed with me longer and completed your apprenticeship, you would be more versed in arcane magic. There is power in knowing things that others have forgotten."

Kohaku stilled, but refused to look back at her. But she could tell he was listening.

"If you had stayed as my apprentice, you wouldn't be such an idiot, and you would have a better understanding about how bonds work. Especially dragon bonds."

Kohaku's eyes snapped up at her. Finally, she had his full attention. "Let me ask you something Kohaku, how important is intention when it comes to magic? Have you forgotten the basic tenements of magic?"

Kohaku jumped up and faced her. Yubaba sat back and gave him a toothy grin. "Consider this my early mating present for you."

"Yubaba, what are you talking about?"

"If Chihiro had spoken the correct words to break the bond, would it have worked if she had kissed you right after? If she hadn't really meant what she said?"

Kohaku froze.

"She even kept your dragon scale. The betrothal gift."

Kohaku began pacing. He felt like such an idiot. Yubaba was right, intention mattered as much, if not more than the words, when it came to spell casting. But no, he didn't feel her anymore through the fractured bond, so what was she talking about? What was this about his scale? Hadn't she left it? He didn't know. "Stop speaking in circles and tell me what is going on."

"Tisk. Tisk. Don't you remember Kohaku, I don't answer to you. However, I will overlook that transgression. Let me ask you a question. Do you think that you are the only one who had to go to war after a mating bond was initiated?"

"..."

"You really should have stayed with me longer. Maybe then, you wouldn't be such an idiot. But, if it's any consolation, Zeniba didn't even realise that the spell I shared with Chihiro wouldn't break the bond either; only suspend it."

"Suspend it?" Kohaku's voice was guarded.

"Yes, suspend it." Yubaba walked over to Kohaku who had walked over to his balcony, unconsciously staring off in the direction of the portal leading back to the human world. Gently she touched his arm. "I do not approve of what Lord Senka did to you both. It wasn't his right." She felt tension leave Kohaku. She continued. "But I suspect it was the only way he could see to save you from yourself. Both times. You were always so stubborn."

Kohaku looked down, acknowledging the truth in her words. What Lord Senka and Yubaba didn't know was that he had already agreed to help Chihiro before the new bond had sealed on him. The amariz stone had stalled the bond from setting until he left the tower. As for now, he would still gladly give up his life for her. Bond or no bond.

"Plus, I don't like what I have overheard Dean and Tatsuo (her lips curled into a sneer as she said the name of the dragon who had imprisoned her) whispering about." Yubaba continued expecting Kohaku to be paying attention. "Something is hunting Chihiro, she will need the protection your river will still instinctively provide to her. Power that you will not need even fighting in this war."

"Yubaba, what are you saying?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Yes, I know or at least suspect that Chihiro is being hunted. But right now, I am more concerned about the bond between us not being completely severed. If you are correct…." He trailed off thinking. "Yes. My river with Tasuo's protection should be able to keep Chihiro alive while I am away."

Yubaba smacked him on the back of his head. "Chihiro has her own power too. She doesn't need protection. But it will help. Now be quiet and listen and you might learn something." She gave an exaggerated sigh.

Kohaku rubbed that back of his head as he glared down at Yubaba. Somehow it was comforting that Yubaba remained consistent. She would always be an obstinate, arrogant, pain.

Yubaba adopted the same tone she would use when she would lecture him during his apprenticeship. "A bond can be suspended for a set period of time. This suspencion will normally last 6 months. At the end of the 6 months, the bond will need to be consciously reengaged or it will fade away. You and I both know how difficult it will be to try and establish a new bond if this one disintegrates. Kohaku, you have 6 months to end an eternal war; or at least push the Dark Queen's forces back to where they normally are, go to the human world and convince Chihiro to give you a chance. "

"6 months?"

"More or less."

"I better get to work."

"You better and stop destroying my bathhouse while you're at it."

"It's actually my bathhouse."

"Semantics."

Kohaku barked out a laugh. No. Yubaba would never change. For that he was gratefully. Jumping out from the balcony, he rippled as he transformed into his dragon form. Through his mental connection with Yubaba he charged her with telling his adoptive father where he was going.

"I am not your messenger!" She yelled after him. "Where are you going anyways?" she shouted as an afterthought.

Kohaku didn't reply.

"So, you did meddle." a perfectly aristocratic voice spoke behind her.

Yubaba jumped. Turned and glared at the intruder. When Lord Senka came into view, she froze. But then, Yubaba reminded herself that she was not afraid of Kohaku, there was no way she was afraid of Lord Senka. She stood her ground and raised her chin. "No more than you do, you old fart."

Lord Senka barely hesitated as he listened to her words. Deciding to ignore them, he joined her overlooking the balcony and staring out on the disappearing form of his son.

"Is it true that she is being hunted?"

Yubaba didn't have to ask who he meant. "Would it have mattered? Would it have changed your mind?"

"I am not evil Yubaba. Stop trying to make me out to be so."

"No, you're just an idiot."

"Careful where you tread." He warned the air crackling with power.

Yubaba ignored his display. She focused on answering his question. "There is something about Sen that draws powerful beings to her. She is not aware of it. But the attraction seems also to attract the Dark Queen's forces. I know of no other creatures that manifest the same as the Southern Wind's grandson described."

Lord Senka's sudden inhale, showed he had not been privy to that information. "Hmm.. take that you old turtle." she thought.

"Maybe instead of making rash decisions, you should do a little more investigation beside listening to the words of Kohaku's untrustworthy ex-lover." Yubaba had no problem digging that one in.

Lord Senka did not raise her bait. Instead he pondered implications he had not factored in. "It seems as If I have been mistaken and Lady Chihiro's role in all of this has not yet been fully revealed."

Yubaba kepted the barb she wanted to sting him with. She would not mistakenly reveal all that she knew, or at least suspected.

"Thank you."

Lord Senka's words shocked Yubaba. "What are you thanking me for?" she asked suspiciously.

Lord Senka glared down at her ignoring, what he assumed was her bid for flattery. "You really are just a big softy. Kohaku was right when he told me. I didn't believe him." His tone took on a thoughtful edge. He surprised her when he continued. "Thank you, Yubaba, Witch of the Bathhouse, your fast actions might end up being what saves us all."

Yubaba humphed as she re-crossed her arms.

Together they both looked on as the dragon form disappeared from sight.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. If you would take the time to let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it. It's nice to know that you are with me for this journey.

Thyme