A/N: okay.
Disclaimer: no own.
Chapter Finished: 5/?/03
Third Person POV
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She ran and ran until she was panting heavily, then finally rested in an alleyway behind another dumpster. She looked at Hikari, who was fussing with her hair.
"I shouldn't have done that, Kari," she told her little sister. The babe glanced up through her great dark long lashes and made a little sound of contentment.
"You know, Kari, you don't have a mother or father or brother," Chihiro continued. "and I've been an awful big sister to you. so how about I be your mother instead? I'll explain everything to you when you're older." Then Chihiro giggled a little, to relieve tension and sadness at cheating the nice, kind couple so rottenly. She felt terrible about it. "it'll feel strange calling you my daughter," she continued aloud, trying to distract her mind. It didn't work, and she cried for a while, and eventually Hikari joined in, and they cried together until Chihiro fed Hikari and stood, wiping her tears away. she prayed Kai and Miya would not hate her and Hikari for this.
"We'll take a bus out to nowhere," she muttered, walking to a bus station. "then walk until we find a town. That'll be our new home, Kari-chan."
She ate a rice ball while waiting for the bus, and rode the rest of the day. At night, she stopped at a quiet, small town, and escaped into a church from the biting wind. She ended up staying the night there, but didn't get much sleep since Hikari insisted on being fed so much.
The next day, Chihiro took a random bus, didn't even look what where when or why, and got off that afternoon at a large field. She could see the roof tops of houses far away, and cut through tall grass to get there.
She stopped every now and then to rest, feed Hikari, change her diaper, ate a rice ball now and then, and continued on her way. She made it to the town by dark, and decided she liked it.
She also decided this would be her new home. She knew very well she wouldn't be able to buy a house and all of that, but she could find a job maybe? That would keep them fed, and they could sleep at an inn, an alley, any place. there was a forest, just like the one with the Kohaku River in it, except bigger. There were many houses, and no big stores, just a few smaller ones. Chihiro wandered around for a bit, then when the cold began to get too bad and Hikari was fussing rather loudly once more, she slipped inside what looked like a church.
There was nobody there. She sat on one of the hard seat in the back row and changed Hikari's diaper, and fed her, then ate a rice ball - her last one - and sighed, looking around.
There was somebody there. An old woman played a great big organ, and her back was to Chihiro. Curious, Chihiro took Hikari and walked up the aisle and to the front, up some steps to the front wall, where a great big cross lay propped against the wall, next to the big organ and the old lady playing it.
When the song finished, the lady looked at Chihiro.
"Homeless?" she asked in a voice cracked with wisdom. Chihiro nodded dumbly, and carefully lay Hikari down at her feet. "Shame," the old woman said, looking back to the organ. "it's Thanksgiving, dear child," she continued. "have you come to beg God to give you something to be thankful for?"
"No, ma'am," Chihiro murmured. "I actually came in to get warm. I didn't know it was Thanksgiving already - why hasn't it snowed? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with your family?"
The old lady patted the seat next to her on the bench, and Chihiro sat next to her.
"You know, Organs are interesting instruments; each key makes a different sound, unique, and when they all play together it becomes haunting and pure." She played the first few notes to a slow song that Chihiro didn't recognize. "but when one plays on its own, it is single - unique, but lacking in the most important part of music: harmony."
Chihiro reflected on these words thirty minutes later in the room of an old motel. Hikari was sleeping peacefully, and the lady had simply written down on a piece of paper this address, and Chihiro had found this room with the last of her money. She needed a job - and she hadn't known it was Thanksgiving. She glanced over from where she was staring out the dark window to where Hikari lay snoring lightly.
"I guess I'm your mother, Kari," she said quietly. "But what have I given you to be thankful for?"
she returned her gaze back to the window. She didn't know what the old woman's words meant, but they must have been wise and had a meaning to them somewhere. They confused her.
'I'll think about that later,' Chihiro thought, going to bed with Hikari. 'tomorrow I need a job and a real place to stay.'
She fell asleep, and Hikari let her rest for a good three or four hours before announcing she was hungry.
.
.
.
The next day Chihiro slept in, relishing the fact that this was her new home. Had Akio and Hiroshi called the police? Were there missing posters with her face up all over Tokyo?
Her thoughts turned to her friends, Miya and Kai, the old woman. Then she saw Yuuko's smiling face only to be replaced by that weak, pale skull she had seen last.
Chihiro cried herself back to sleep, and Hikari seemed to take pity on her again by letting her sleep a little longer before not only being hungry, but messy diaper too.
So Chihiro used the personal little bathroom to take a bath, give Hikari a bath, and brush her hair, and all of that good stuff. Then she took the last thing of Yuuko she had besides Hikari - the perfume bottle. She inhaled it deeply and hugged it to her chest before crying again and making Hikari another meal for later. She fed her on and off as she prepared things, then left, checking out.
The lady at the desk gave her directions to various restaurants and cafés, and Chihiro wrote them all down on a piece of paper. Time to do some job hunting.
She went all over the town all day, talking to managers and whatnot, and it wans't until around late afternoon when she was feeling partivcularly hungry, that one boss didn't burst out laughing and turn her away. instead, the head of the Café she was at just smiled amusedly while Chihiro told him the experience she had had at the Chibi Café in Tokyo under Usagie and Madame Zoltanne. The man turned her away, of course, but gave her two different addresses to go to where the managers knew Madame Zolatanne. Chihiro thanked him and left. The first one was probably the most elaborate restaurant in town - the manager was sympathetic towards Chihiro, but wasn't on speaking terms with Madame Zolatanne, and six-year-old could not work.
The next was at a grocery store, and there the manager was once again sympathetic.
"We little grocery stores don't use waitresses," he eplained to Chihiro. He examined her crest fallen face and said, "why don't you leave the work to your parents?"
"I don't have parents," Chihiro said before she could stop herself. "I'm... I'm Hikari's mother," she hefted a snoozing Hikari up a little bit, "and I can work! I can work very hard!"
He was definitely taken aback. "well, where are you staying?"
"With my aunt. She's gonna get thrown out on the streets," Chihiro added innocently, pretending to not know what that meant.
So the six-year-old got a job by organizing things. She was only paid half of what the other employees were, but Chihiro was happy to be doing it. she spent the night at the church, and the old woman gave her some things; rice balls, clean diapers, blankets.
A week passed with so far nothing overly interesting happening. The old lady was actually the sermon, or so Chihiro guessed, and she seemed to know a lot.
A month passed, and Chihiro was given her first "pay check" in cash. She bought another bottle, more diapers, rice balls, and a small can of the special baby formula that took quite a while to track down. She basically lived in the church, then the old lady took her home with her.
"Look at this," the old woman said one night, handing Chihiro a piece of paper.
It read:
LOST: TWO-THREE MONTH YEAR OLD BABY GIRL, DARK EYES, KIDNAPPED SUPPOSEDLY BY SIX-YEAR-OLD OGINO CHIHIRO
Followed by a description of both Chihiro and Hikari.
IF FOUND, PLEASE ARREST SIX-YEAR-OLD AND TAKE BABY TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS
With Hiroshi and Akio's address. Chihiro gasped, swallowed, paled, flushed, then looked at the old woman. Nothing needed to be said.
"You have a very gifted sis - daughter, Miss Chihiro," the old lady said. "I've been hiding you, and I will. I won't question you."
Chihiro looked up at her. "Thank you very, very much," she said.
It wasn't long until the old woman began to teach her school lessons when she wasn't working. She used to be a home-school teacher, so it was no problem for her. She said that she'd enroll Chihiro as her granddaughter in the city school next year in second grade. Chihiro thanked her.
Soon January had come and gone, followed by February, then March, followed by April. Chihiro was promoted to an actual employee and worked more. When she wasn't at the house, the old lady took care of Hikari, who was growing fast.
May and June passed much slower than Chihiro would have liked. She hadn't explored the town except to go back and forth between the store and the church and the old lady's house. Her bruises were all gone, and she looked normal now that her hair was long enough to be put in a full out ponytail. She had a few scars - mental and emotional - and sometimes she cried about them.
July and August were hard, but Chihiro ended up getting to know the town pretty good in those months. In September, she was enrolled in school as the old woman's granddaughter, and her birthday was actually celebrated, followed by Hikari's.
"You're a whole year old, Kari-chan!" Chihiro told her fondly. She had taken to the idea of being Hikari's mother, and so had the old woman.
"Frosting, Ma-ma!" Hikari replied, happily covered from head to toe in frosting. The old lady said that Hikari was talking very fluently at a very young age. Just like Chihiro had. Now Chihiro was working after school and on Saturdays. It was all over town, the youngest worker ever - but after some convincing and a little bit of court, the press didn't bother Chihiro or her "grandmother" or "daughter" ever again. The papers and news never reached to Tokyo, so Chihiro and Hikari were safe.
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A/N: okay, sorry about that chapter it sucked. *sigh* alright, I admit it; I've got Writers' Block. I could see so clearly Haku and Chihiro's meeting, but Chihiro is too young, and I'm not sure how to make time jumps without messing it up. Sorry.
Disclaimer: no own.
Chapter Finished: 5/?/03
Third Person POV
.
.
.
She ran and ran until she was panting heavily, then finally rested in an alleyway behind another dumpster. She looked at Hikari, who was fussing with her hair.
"I shouldn't have done that, Kari," she told her little sister. The babe glanced up through her great dark long lashes and made a little sound of contentment.
"You know, Kari, you don't have a mother or father or brother," Chihiro continued. "and I've been an awful big sister to you. so how about I be your mother instead? I'll explain everything to you when you're older." Then Chihiro giggled a little, to relieve tension and sadness at cheating the nice, kind couple so rottenly. She felt terrible about it. "it'll feel strange calling you my daughter," she continued aloud, trying to distract her mind. It didn't work, and she cried for a while, and eventually Hikari joined in, and they cried together until Chihiro fed Hikari and stood, wiping her tears away. she prayed Kai and Miya would not hate her and Hikari for this.
"We'll take a bus out to nowhere," she muttered, walking to a bus station. "then walk until we find a town. That'll be our new home, Kari-chan."
She ate a rice ball while waiting for the bus, and rode the rest of the day. At night, she stopped at a quiet, small town, and escaped into a church from the biting wind. She ended up staying the night there, but didn't get much sleep since Hikari insisted on being fed so much.
The next day, Chihiro took a random bus, didn't even look what where when or why, and got off that afternoon at a large field. She could see the roof tops of houses far away, and cut through tall grass to get there.
She stopped every now and then to rest, feed Hikari, change her diaper, ate a rice ball now and then, and continued on her way. She made it to the town by dark, and decided she liked it.
She also decided this would be her new home. She knew very well she wouldn't be able to buy a house and all of that, but she could find a job maybe? That would keep them fed, and they could sleep at an inn, an alley, any place. there was a forest, just like the one with the Kohaku River in it, except bigger. There were many houses, and no big stores, just a few smaller ones. Chihiro wandered around for a bit, then when the cold began to get too bad and Hikari was fussing rather loudly once more, she slipped inside what looked like a church.
There was nobody there. She sat on one of the hard seat in the back row and changed Hikari's diaper, and fed her, then ate a rice ball - her last one - and sighed, looking around.
There was somebody there. An old woman played a great big organ, and her back was to Chihiro. Curious, Chihiro took Hikari and walked up the aisle and to the front, up some steps to the front wall, where a great big cross lay propped against the wall, next to the big organ and the old lady playing it.
When the song finished, the lady looked at Chihiro.
"Homeless?" she asked in a voice cracked with wisdom. Chihiro nodded dumbly, and carefully lay Hikari down at her feet. "Shame," the old woman said, looking back to the organ. "it's Thanksgiving, dear child," she continued. "have you come to beg God to give you something to be thankful for?"
"No, ma'am," Chihiro murmured. "I actually came in to get warm. I didn't know it was Thanksgiving already - why hasn't it snowed? Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with your family?"
The old lady patted the seat next to her on the bench, and Chihiro sat next to her.
"You know, Organs are interesting instruments; each key makes a different sound, unique, and when they all play together it becomes haunting and pure." She played the first few notes to a slow song that Chihiro didn't recognize. "but when one plays on its own, it is single - unique, but lacking in the most important part of music: harmony."
Chihiro reflected on these words thirty minutes later in the room of an old motel. Hikari was sleeping peacefully, and the lady had simply written down on a piece of paper this address, and Chihiro had found this room with the last of her money. She needed a job - and she hadn't known it was Thanksgiving. She glanced over from where she was staring out the dark window to where Hikari lay snoring lightly.
"I guess I'm your mother, Kari," she said quietly. "But what have I given you to be thankful for?"
she returned her gaze back to the window. She didn't know what the old woman's words meant, but they must have been wise and had a meaning to them somewhere. They confused her.
'I'll think about that later,' Chihiro thought, going to bed with Hikari. 'tomorrow I need a job and a real place to stay.'
She fell asleep, and Hikari let her rest for a good three or four hours before announcing she was hungry.
.
.
.
The next day Chihiro slept in, relishing the fact that this was her new home. Had Akio and Hiroshi called the police? Were there missing posters with her face up all over Tokyo?
Her thoughts turned to her friends, Miya and Kai, the old woman. Then she saw Yuuko's smiling face only to be replaced by that weak, pale skull she had seen last.
Chihiro cried herself back to sleep, and Hikari seemed to take pity on her again by letting her sleep a little longer before not only being hungry, but messy diaper too.
So Chihiro used the personal little bathroom to take a bath, give Hikari a bath, and brush her hair, and all of that good stuff. Then she took the last thing of Yuuko she had besides Hikari - the perfume bottle. She inhaled it deeply and hugged it to her chest before crying again and making Hikari another meal for later. She fed her on and off as she prepared things, then left, checking out.
The lady at the desk gave her directions to various restaurants and cafés, and Chihiro wrote them all down on a piece of paper. Time to do some job hunting.
She went all over the town all day, talking to managers and whatnot, and it wans't until around late afternoon when she was feeling partivcularly hungry, that one boss didn't burst out laughing and turn her away. instead, the head of the Café she was at just smiled amusedly while Chihiro told him the experience she had had at the Chibi Café in Tokyo under Usagie and Madame Zoltanne. The man turned her away, of course, but gave her two different addresses to go to where the managers knew Madame Zolatanne. Chihiro thanked him and left. The first one was probably the most elaborate restaurant in town - the manager was sympathetic towards Chihiro, but wasn't on speaking terms with Madame Zolatanne, and six-year-old could not work.
The next was at a grocery store, and there the manager was once again sympathetic.
"We little grocery stores don't use waitresses," he eplained to Chihiro. He examined her crest fallen face and said, "why don't you leave the work to your parents?"
"I don't have parents," Chihiro said before she could stop herself. "I'm... I'm Hikari's mother," she hefted a snoozing Hikari up a little bit, "and I can work! I can work very hard!"
He was definitely taken aback. "well, where are you staying?"
"With my aunt. She's gonna get thrown out on the streets," Chihiro added innocently, pretending to not know what that meant.
So the six-year-old got a job by organizing things. She was only paid half of what the other employees were, but Chihiro was happy to be doing it. she spent the night at the church, and the old woman gave her some things; rice balls, clean diapers, blankets.
A week passed with so far nothing overly interesting happening. The old lady was actually the sermon, or so Chihiro guessed, and she seemed to know a lot.
A month passed, and Chihiro was given her first "pay check" in cash. She bought another bottle, more diapers, rice balls, and a small can of the special baby formula that took quite a while to track down. She basically lived in the church, then the old lady took her home with her.
"Look at this," the old woman said one night, handing Chihiro a piece of paper.
It read:
LOST: TWO-THREE MONTH YEAR OLD BABY GIRL, DARK EYES, KIDNAPPED SUPPOSEDLY BY SIX-YEAR-OLD OGINO CHIHIRO
Followed by a description of both Chihiro and Hikari.
IF FOUND, PLEASE ARREST SIX-YEAR-OLD AND TAKE BABY TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS
With Hiroshi and Akio's address. Chihiro gasped, swallowed, paled, flushed, then looked at the old woman. Nothing needed to be said.
"You have a very gifted sis - daughter, Miss Chihiro," the old lady said. "I've been hiding you, and I will. I won't question you."
Chihiro looked up at her. "Thank you very, very much," she said.
It wasn't long until the old woman began to teach her school lessons when she wasn't working. She used to be a home-school teacher, so it was no problem for her. She said that she'd enroll Chihiro as her granddaughter in the city school next year in second grade. Chihiro thanked her.
Soon January had come and gone, followed by February, then March, followed by April. Chihiro was promoted to an actual employee and worked more. When she wasn't at the house, the old lady took care of Hikari, who was growing fast.
May and June passed much slower than Chihiro would have liked. She hadn't explored the town except to go back and forth between the store and the church and the old lady's house. Her bruises were all gone, and she looked normal now that her hair was long enough to be put in a full out ponytail. She had a few scars - mental and emotional - and sometimes she cried about them.
July and August were hard, but Chihiro ended up getting to know the town pretty good in those months. In September, she was enrolled in school as the old woman's granddaughter, and her birthday was actually celebrated, followed by Hikari's.
"You're a whole year old, Kari-chan!" Chihiro told her fondly. She had taken to the idea of being Hikari's mother, and so had the old woman.
"Frosting, Ma-ma!" Hikari replied, happily covered from head to toe in frosting. The old lady said that Hikari was talking very fluently at a very young age. Just like Chihiro had. Now Chihiro was working after school and on Saturdays. It was all over town, the youngest worker ever - but after some convincing and a little bit of court, the press didn't bother Chihiro or her "grandmother" or "daughter" ever again. The papers and news never reached to Tokyo, so Chihiro and Hikari were safe.
.
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.
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A/N: okay, sorry about that chapter it sucked. *sigh* alright, I admit it; I've got Writers' Block. I could see so clearly Haku and Chihiro's meeting, but Chihiro is too young, and I'm not sure how to make time jumps without messing it up. Sorry.