Okay, first off let me start off by saying... I AM SO SORRY! My life has been insane and I am trying to pick up the pace and complete these stories. Thanks for your interest in this story. The chapters that follow this will have a great deal more action in them. The story will pick up some speed in this chapter but no ninja battles until later on. Please read! As of 6/19/12 this poll is closed. Thank you to everyone who participated in the voting!

The final results are:

Naruto: 2

Kingdom Hearts: 5

Stranger's Like Us sequel: 30

Inuyasha: 0

Surprise Us: 11

As of right now, my main focus will be on cleaning up existing fics and working on the Strangers Like Us sequel and maybe a surprise.

Disclaimer: Wolfkeeper989 does not own Naruto nor does she own Spirited Away; they belong to the great minds that created them. Also, I want to give credit to the amazing Velf for her version of the of Spirit World and most of its inhabitants, since I will be using her basis as the basis for the characters and Spirit World that will be in this story. But the story idea is so mine!

Chapter 5

Sakura gaped for a moment. She recognized the voice. It could only be one person… It could only be Sasuke. How... did he know her name? She thought that he had lost his memory due to the taking of his name. She could only stare at him as her mind worked on overdrive to work out what was going on, until Chihiro's inquisitive voice rang out,

"Are you a spirit?" The hooded figure turned slightly and momentarily studied Chihiro before shaking his head.

"No, I am human, like you. My name is Suke and I am the personal assistant to Master Haku." He then bowed formally towards Chihiro as he continued,

"You must be Mistress Chihiro." Chihiro nodded and politely returned the bow as Sakura mimicked the action beside her. Sakura marveled at the difference in Sasuke's voice. It wasn't that it had deepened, she had expected that, but it wasn't cold and indifferent. It actually sounded soft, polite, and almost warm. After a moment, Suke straightened and beckoned for the young women to follow him. Sakura followed behind Chihiro as she followed the hooded figure through the trees. Sakura began to look around for some oddity that could serve as a trail marker. She was hoping to locate some markers that could be used to find her way back, in case she needed to return. The day was warm and clear. The sun was beaming down on them even though most of the light was blocked by the evergreen trees that made up the forest.

There was nothing that stood out to kunoichi until they rounded a bend in the path and Sakura saw a squat and homely statue half covered by kudzu. The statue was of a squat and rotund person with a hood on its head. It had creepy, yet almost goofy grin on its face. It also had wide, round eyes that lacked pupils. It also had a set of rounded appendages were its arms and hands should have been. These appendages wrapped around the waist of the statue as if it were clasping its hands in front of its middle. She took out one of her new kunai and stabbed it into the ground next to the statue as a marker, in case she came across another similar statue later, and quickly caught back up with Chihiro and Suke.

"Why did you stop?" asked Chihiro as Sakura reached the young woman's side.

"I was looking at the statue. I was trying to find a marker to look for in case I needed to come back to the mortal realm." she replied as Chihiro tripped over a crooked stone in the pathway they were traversing. Sakura reached out quickly and righted the girl with one hand. Chihiro murmured her thanks as her cheeks flamed in embarrassment. Sakura assured her that it all right and continued to follow the pathway. Chihiro could only watch jealously as Sakura's feet instinctively avoided every upturned stone in the path without having to look down once! Chihiro had to continually look at the ground to look for possible stones that might trip her up.

"How can you do that without looking down?" Chihiro asked.

"Do what?" asked Sakura.

"Walk without tripping over anything." Chihiro muttered irritably. Sakura frowned in confusion for a moment before she understood.

"Well, as a shinobi, I have to travel quickly over all types of terrain including trees. So, we are taught early on to have good foot coordination. So, walking over a path of uneven stones is not too difficult." the kunoichi admitted. Chihiro nodded softly.

"Oh, that makes sense, but I forgot to mention that the barrier doesn't open until around either of the solstices or either of the equinoxes." explained Chihiro. "It's possible to go around it but only spirits can do it and it takes a great deal of power to do so." Sakura heart almost stopped. She could only return to this side of the spiritual divide four times a year until her mission was complete. Tsunade-sama was not going to be happy to with that news. She was supposed to report in once a month, how could she manage to do that when she could only pass through this barrier at specified times? She would have to ask this Haku for some help or send her shinshou a very sincere apology and an explanation.

"Oh, all right. Well, I will just have to adjust." she muttered. Chihiro looked at her for a moment in sympathy. "Do you think that Haku would be willing to help send messages back to my village? It is vital to my mission."

"I don't know; Haku is a river spirit. His personality reflects that. One minute he can be calm and tranquil and the next he is enraged and destructive. It just all depends. But I am sure if you explain why you are here he may be willing to consider helping you." explained Chihiro. "I know that you were looking for your friend, Sasuke, but that is all I know. What exactly is your mission?" Sakura debated with herself. Should she tell Chihiro more? On one hand, she may need the girl's help to complete her mission, but at the same time her mission was a class-S mission. She was forbidden to speak of her mission with anyone, but then again, she had already broken that rule when she mentioned that she was looking for Sasuke to Chihiro. She decided as long as no other ninja knew that she was here, she could tell the girl what her mission entailed. But she decided that it would be better to wait until they were on the other side of the divide.

"I would not feel comfortable speaking about my mission until we crossover. I don't want any shinobi learning what my actual mission parameters are." whispered Sakura. Chihiro nodded in understanding before pointing at the distant Suke ahead of them. Sakura nodded and both young women picked up their walking pace. Eventually, the young people were walking side by side. Suke was serenely looking ahead as he navigated the time worn path to the barrier. Chihiro was mindlessly gazing around at the forest around them while, at the end, Sakura was lost in her own thoughts. Sakura was starting to feel anxiety build in her stomach as the full weight of her mission hit her. The fate of the Hidden Villages really did rest on her shoulders, not to mention so did the fate of the Uchiha clan as well. Sakura frowned as she thought back to the mission instructions that she had been given by Tsunade-sama. She, for all intents and purposes, was an ambassador for Konoha. It was up to her to negotiate with the Spirits on behalf of the citizens of Konoha. If she failed, then Konoha could potentially end up with a world full of deadly enemies. According to what she had learned from Chihiro, the best she could expect from the Spirits was that they would remain neutral in the affairs of the shinobi. Sakura could only sigh as her thoughts became darker and more uncertain.

"Are you well, Sakura-chan?" asked a soft voice. Sakura gave startled yelp and barely restrained herself from throwing a punch. She whipped her head around to find herself face to face with Suke. She immediately turned an embarrassing shade of red. She wasn't sure what embarrassed her more that she had been daydreaming while on a mission or the fact that Sasuke was still able to make her blush just by standing next to her. "I am sorry, I did not mean to frighten you."

"No, it's quite alright. I was not paying attention. I was thinking about-" she faltered as she tried to come up with a good enough lie to tell Suke, but then Suke spoke again,

"Your mission." Sakura gaped for a moment before she barked out, "How-Why would you say that?"

"Ninja are not usually found on this side of the divide. I know that Mistress Chihiro is not a ninja, so I assumed that you were sent here by the Hokage. Am I correct?" he asked.

"I-I-" Sakura was at a loss for words. "I was sent by the Lady Hokage, but it is an S-class mission so I cannot discuss it... openly at least."

"I understand. I would have been shocked if it was ranked any lower than an S." muttered Suke. Sakura was more than vaguely confused now, she had been informed that Suke could not remember anything about his former life due to the witch's spell. Then why did he was he able to guess why she was there and recognize her? Sakura had to know,

"How do you know all of this, I was told that you have no memories of who you used to be?" she asked.

"I don't recall anything about myself specifically, but I do recall having friends that were ninja in..." Sakura watched as Suke's face screwed up in concentration as he tried to recall the village's name. Sakura frowned in distress as she watched the ninja that she had admired and wanted to impress struggle to even remember the name of his home village, Konoha. Sakura could not drown in her pity too long, because she felt a light touch from Chihiro on her arm. As the mentally distracted Suke continued on down the path, Sakura dropped back to chat with the girl.

"It maybe you." said Chihiro. Sakura turned to look at the brunette.

"What do I have to do with anything?" Sakura asked, Chihiro answered the rose-haired nin's question with a question.

"Remember when I told you about how I helped Haku remember his name?" Sakura nodded.

"Maybe this is the same thing, he remembers that the two of you were/are friends. Anything that pertains to you or your friendship, he would be able recall it. But if it did not, he could not. For example, if someone asked him to talk about being a ninja, he would remember that he had a teammate named Sakura that was a ninja, but he may or may not be able to realize the fact that he was also a ninja." Sakura mulled over the girl's words for a moment before she quickened her pace until she was next to the cursed human. She then turned to look at Suke and asked,

"Do the names Uchiha or Orochimaru mean anything to you?" The raven haired boy looked at her blankly,

"No. Not really, should they?" Suke's eyebrows furrowed as he thought some more. Sakura's eyebrows flew into her hair line. Then she decided to test Chihiro's theory further.

"What about Naruto?" she asked and watched in awe as Suke's face lit up in recognition.

"He was your teammate, correct?" Suke answered. Sakura nodded. But, before she could ask him another question, he continued speaking,

"And I think that he was... my friend." Sakura almost passed out then, the Sasuke she had known would have died before ever admitting that Naruto, the dobe, was his friend.

"Yes, you were and are friends." she answered carefully. She was about to continue but stopped dead when they came around the final bend in the path reached a small creek. The area was a lot darker now, since the trees were closer together and denser in this part of the forest. The creek was not deep... a car could drive through it. But it was deep enough for their lower legs and feet to get wet as they waded across. Sakura and Suke waded across with little trouble. Chihiro nearly fell once but managed to regain her balance and continued to cross the creek. Once she had joined the two ninja on the other side, the three youth continued on their way. As they turned another bend in the road, Sakura felt something that had her paling, but she continued walking. Sakura herded Chihiro into the middle and forward a little to protect the girl. Sakura noticed Suke's walk had changed. While on the outside, he seemed calm, Sakura could tell he had slipped into a battle mode. He was ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"It seems the wind is starting to pick up, don't you think so Sakura-chan?" Suke muttered as they continued down the now straight path. The path was now nothing but cobblestone and continued up to a large red and black walled entrance. Sakura turned briefly to look at the dragon's assistant to murmur,

"Yes, it does." Sakura realized that Suke had picked up on the faint chakra signature that she had. She was letting him know that she felt it, too. "Is it windy a lot? Is the winds here strong enough to blow off the leaves?" She was trying to see if it was ok for her to engage the ninja.

"No, not during this season. But one would think that you would be a little grateful for the breeze on a warm day like this?(translation: Is the ninja with you?)" replied Suke. Sakura shook her head,

"No, under these trees... there is too much shade." she replied. Suke nodded and continued towards the entrance.

"Well, there is a sunny meadow on the other side of this entrance that is very warm." Suke said reassuringly. He smiled at her and Sakura blushed as she said,

"Okay, I can't wait to see it!" By now, Sakura, Suke, and Chihiro had reached the entrance that seemed to be guarded by another odd looking statue like the one she saw before. The two young women were about to walk through the entrance, but Suke moved ahead of them and held his arm out in front of them. He turned to them and reached into the folds of his tunic and pulled out a package. He opened the paper to reveal some red, round berries.

"Sakura, you and Mistress Chihiro must be hungry. Please, I would be most honored if you would share these with me." he said softly but his dark eyes held an authoritative stare. In other words, it was not a request, but an order. Sakura took a few of the berries as Chihiro took some for herself. Suke took the remaining berries and they all ate them together. Suke shoved the paper back into his pocket as Sakura shuddered. The berries were a little tart tasting but Sakura could help but shudder as a feeling of static electricity was running through her body momentarily. She looked questioningly at Suke.

"Those were some unique tasting berries... What are they?" asked Sakura, keeping with their code game. The ninja was still following them. But so far, they had not attacked. Sakura figured that they were sent to watch her and maybe confirm the location of the entrance. She was growing nervous, but she trusted that Sa- no, Suke had a plan.

"They are snowberries, some say they are food for the spirit." said Suke as he ushered the two females through the Spirit World entrance. Sakura walked through the entrance resisting the urge to reach in her bag for a kunai. The tunnel grew darker as they moved further away from what little sunshine was shining outside. Sakura swallowed nervously as the darkness engulfed her and the fact that she was leaving the world she knew as home for good hit her. She continued moving forward though, because if she stopped or turned around to look behind her, she wasn't sure she would be able to continue the mission. She focused on the chakra of Suke in front of her guiding her out of the darkness. Finally, she and Chihiro emerged in a dimly lit lobby area of what looked like an abandoned station. The station was sparsely decorated. There were a few cobweb covered benches and a dried out fountain the empty station. The style of the architecture suggested that the station had been grand in its heyday.

The trio continued on through the station and out of the back. Sakura stop short as her eyes took in the sight of the beautiful viridian meadow before her. There were acres and acres of willowy blades of grass. It stretched all the way to sapphire sky's horizon. There were various sized stones littering the meadow at random intervals. There were also run down shacks but somehow they did not seem out of place. They only added to the beauty and serenity of the meadow. Sakura briefly had flashbacks as she stared at the meadow.

She remembered Team Seven learning to climb trees, hanging out at the training ground, and going on missions together. She even thought back to the times before the academy when she and Ino used to sit and watch the clouds roll by. She felt tears start to burn the corners of eyes. She squeezed her eyes shut momentarily as she fought back her tears. She took two breaths before she forced the sorrow and her tears away. They were useless at this point. She opened her eyes and kept moving forward. Chihiro had run ahead, leaving the two ninja behind. Sakura looked to her left at Suke who gave her a slight nod in acknowledgement. She smiled hesitantly and continued following the suddenly enthusiastic Chihiro Ogino towards a trench bedded with rocks and stones. They must be planning to put a river in sometime. Sakura and Suke continued walking while keeping a slight "eye" on the shinobi following them.

After crossing the stones, they traveled up another small hill before they reached a set of stone steps that led up to a paved square that was lined with shops and restaurants. For now they looked abandoned like the train station had been. But Sakura had felt the change in the atmosphere the moment that she had stepped over the threshold of the train station. The ground practically hummed with a pregnant energy. The air was crisper and cleaner than that of Konoha or Tochinoki. Everything looked wild and pristine, Sakura could see why Chihiro fell in love with this place. As she continued to look about, the chakra signature that she had been keeping an eye on increase.

"Sakura?" called Suke. Sakura turned to look at her former teammate. She knew her face must have looked grim.

"I think our "friend" is about to make an appearance." she whispered. Suke's eyes widened. He immediately looked ahead to the skipping Chihiro and then back at her. He looked torn between wanting to stay with her and protecting the human girl. "It's alright, go and protect Chihiro; Suke. I can hold my own." said Sakura as she tried to gage how many opponents she had as well as how much chakra they had. She wished she felt as confident as she sounded just then. The former shinobi looked at her and nodded.

"Ok... if you are sure, Sakura." he said hesitantly and Sakura nodded in response. He turned around and continued to follow the human Chihiro. She was relieved to find that she only had one opponent as opposed to the many she thought initially. But she tensed as she realized that the ninja had a huge chakra signature. Her analytical mind immediately went into overdrive trying discern who might have followed her across the divide. She had not felt or seen anyone as she was leaving Konoha... she thought that she had been careful enough to get out undetected. As she continued to focus on the chakra signal, it started to feel familiar. Then a familiar orange blur landed in front of the female. The blur cleared until it took the shape of her favorite blue eyed ninja.

"Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura in part surprise and part annoyance. "What are you doing here?! You could get me in trouble before I even have a chance to plead Konoha's case! How did you get here anyway?" Naruto rubbed his neck in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I guess I didn't think about that. But, I came with you. I was one of the kunai in your pack. When you left the kunai by that ugly statue, you activated the jutsu." he explained. Sakura resisted the urge to slap herself. Of course, this was a shadow clone. Naruto must have put it with her stuff.

"But why would he risk exposing me?" she wondered aloud. While Naruto was still very much Naruto, he had wised up a great deal. So, Sakura could not fathom what the purpose of the clone was.

"I was to report back if you had been ambushed by enemy ninja or hurt. I was for a 'just in case' situation." the clone said. Sakura felt a warm feeling spread through her body as she realize that her friend had sent a clone with her to watch her back even if he could not be there. She felt the cold dread that had seized her heart melt away. She had people back home that were cheering for her and was well as depending her. She could not afford to be a shrinking blossom now. She grinned for the first time since she left the village gates. She hugged the clone, before sending it back to Naruto with the parting words,

"Tell Naruto I said thank you and that he better not become Hokage before Sasuke and I get back!" The clone grinned goofily and saluted before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Sakura stared at the place the clone had been for a moment longer, before turning around and heading in the same direction that Sasuke had gone. She looked around at all the delectable food. It smelled heavenly, but Sakura knew better than to touch any of it. She could recall with crystal clarity what happened to Chihiro's parents when they ate the spirit's food without permission. She definitely did not want people to change her name to Ino!

She sighed in relief when she turned the corner and saw her two traveling companions a little ways ahead of her. She increased her walking pace until she was almost even with the two of them. Suke heard her approaching and turned to give her a nod of acknowledgement. Chihiro realized that she had returned when she spoke, "Sorry about that, apparently I had a protection detail that I was not aware of." Suke raised an eyebrow in question.

"A protection detail?" parroted Chihiro as they continued through the square. Sakura snorted in mild amusement.

"Yeah, in the form of my best friend Naruto Uzumaki. He had a shadow clone hiding in my kunai. I deactivated the transformation jutsu when I used the kunai to mark the statue." she explained.

"Oh! But what is a shadow clone?" asked Chihiro. Sakura mulled over how to explain chakra to the girl for a moment.

"Shadow clones are ethereal beings that we create using our chakra. They feel solid and can take a few attacks before disintegrating." she said. Chihiro nodded, seeming to accept the explanation. Sakura was not sure if the girl would have understood it. She just finally put it down to Chihiro's knowledge of spirits and the spirit world. As Sakura turned to ask Chihiro for some more information about the spirit world, they rounded another corner and Sakura's jaw dropped. In front of them stood a massive, majestic bathhouse.

The bathhouse was about five stories high and painted red, black, and white. The building was done up in an old Feudal Japan style, it looked even more dated than the oldest buildings in Konoha. But, it was beautiful in a regal way. Directly in front of the trio there was a large bridge that spanned a large shallow body of water with a set of train tracks running through it. As they crossed the bridge, Chihiro turned to Sakura and continued to ask about her mission.

"So, are you just here for you know... or something else?" Sakura laughed at Chihiro's attempt at subterfuge.

"Both," she answered, "The target is an important objective, but not my primary objective. I was sent to find him and you. Then I was also sent as an ambassador for Konoha. We were hoping that the spirits would not be willing to get involved with Shinobi affairs or harm Konoha."

"Hmm... your best bet will be to run it by Haku and hope for the best... as spirits, like humans, are mostly self-serving. They will make decisions based on what is going to be most beneficial to them. So, some may feel that human affairs will be beneath them. Others, like Yubaba, will do their best to manipulate the situation to their advantage." admitted Chihiro. Sakura nodded. She then turned to Suke to ask a question of her own.

"What was with the berries?" Suke looked at her incredulously.

"Did Mistress Chihiro not explain the need for spirit food?" he asked. Sakura slapped herself in the head and groaned.

"So, those snowberries were spirit food?" she guessed. Suke nodded. The three companions reached the end of the bridge and walked into the massive building. Sakura's eyes took a moment to adjust in response to the change in light intensity. The foyer was partially deserted. There were a few frog spirits, or what Sakura thought were frog spirits, milling about. Suke whispered that it was not quite time for the evening's shift to start so the workers were either resting till then or working on preparations. She felt her skin crawl as the frogs' large, liquid eyes bore into her with barely disguised disgust.

"Don't stare." hissed Chihiro through her teeth. The human then turned to the foreman and bowed. The frog snorted but murmured,

"Nice to see that the disgusting world of yours did not make you forget your manners human!" Chihiro did not respond, she just continued following Suke into the hallway. Sakura repeated Chihiro bow gracefully and followed after the human girl. Before Sakura knew it, they were in front of the famed Haku's office door. Sakura heard voices talking on the other side of it. One was deep and cultured while the other one was feminine, but fragile. She was startled from her mental ravine when Suke raised his hand and knocked on the door. Sakura took a deep breath and let it out as the deeper of the two voices called out,

"Come in!" Well, it was now or never for the kunoichi as Suke opened the door.

Ok! I am really sorry about the wait. Life consumes most of my time and I have other stories vying for my attention and creative juices. I know Sasuke is OOC but it is necessary for the plot, so forgive me. But until next time! Also, if you haven't done so... please watch the movie Spirited Away and read Velf's trilogy based on the Spirited Away movie. Velf can be found on . It will improve your understanding of the characters mentioned in this fic, such as Chihiro and Haku.