A Heart of His Own
A Spirited Away fan fiction

Disclaimer: I do not own Spirited Away

One

The sky was that brilliant aquamarine that was saturated to its full intensity, and the fluffy white clouds that appeared sparsely on the blue canvas morphed lazily into different creatures. The sun, hazy and warm beat down on Chihiro's cheeks. Although fifteen, Chihiro still felt the same as when she was ten. She'd grown taller, a few centimeters, and her limbs were still twig-like, like she was some starved child. Her hair was about the same length, she never liked to go shorter or longer, and it was still monstrously thick and chestnut brown. She'd been out for so long, that she started feeling a little hazy herself, and decided it would be best to lie around in the house for a while.

It was the summer of her fifth year in the neighborhood, which wasn't as new anymore. She'd made friends, progressed into high school, and had made it through freshman year to the lazy days of summer. It was the beginning, with the days stretched out before her. She'd always been pretty studious, but it was the first week of summer, and there was no way that she would even come close to touching her summer reading.

The cool air inside the house hit her as she walked in through the back patio. Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table taking care of the family finances. She walked up into her bedroom and reached into the tiny drawer full of hair ties, clips, and combs. Digging her fingers into the mess, she pulled out her special purple hair tie. It was her only souvenir from her hell of a trip in the spirit world. She cherished it and used it many times, and although she was afraid of losing it, she never seemed to lose sight of its purple sparkle. Chihiro felt a feeling of urgency tug at her chest and she knew that it was time. She ran downstairs, sat in front of her door, and hastily put on her shoes.

"Mom, I'm going out!" she shouted.

"Okay, Chihiro, come back for lunch," her mom mumbled back. Chihiro smiled, knowing that her mom trusted her enough that she wouldn't ask where she was going.

She hadn't gone back to the red tunnel since that fateful day when she first arrived at her neighborhood. On her eleventh birthday, she stood in front of the tunnel, wishing that she could celebrate it with Haku. But she didn't go in, partly because (sadly) she was afraid of going through such an ominous tunnel alone, but mostly because she still had faith in Haku, and still believe that he would somehow find her again. He promised he would come to her, so she shouldn't trouble him by risking her life again just for her own selfish desires. If she was completely honest, she still believed, that one day, they would meet again.

It took her a little over forty minutes to find the beaten path again. Walking through the serene woods again was creepy. The air had a chill to it, and the strange sculptures added to its mystery. Finally, she reached the entrance to the red tunnel, the darkness ahead as sinister as ever. She could almost picture the skid marks her father's car made the last time they were here, but the grass has healed since then. Holding her sides together with her slightly trembling arms, she inched forward, wishing that her mother was here to cling on like before. The air was damp and musky inside the tunnel, and she felt the darkness almost engulf her. But soon the walk was over and a quiet train station came into view. She would have stayed longer to enjoy its sweet serenity, but she wanted nothing more than to sprint down the green pastures now that the worst was over.

She ran across the field multiple times, but the little river of rocks and the ghost town that lie ahead was nowhere to be found. She tried to tell herself that just because she couldn't find it, it didn't mean that the spirit world didn't exist.

She fell into the grass and cried, her tears leaking from the sides of her face into the soft grass.

A silvery white dragon landed in front of a little cottage in a remote, wooded area. An old woman with bejeweled hands skittered outside and held them up with pleasant surprise.

"Haku dear! How nice to see you!" Zeniba smiled and watched the boy morph effortlessly into his human form, "Come in."
"Hello Zeniba-san," Haku bowed and smiled. He entered the cozy cottage and they sat at an ornate kitchen table while No Face served tea.

"What brings you here Haku?" Zeniba asked, although the smile on her face suggested that she already knew what he had come for.

"My…apprenticeship with Yubaba ends as soon as summer ends," Haku said, "And right now she's allowing me to take…a break."

"I see," Zeniba said slyly, "And what do you have planned for this…break of yours?"

"I wish to see Chihiro," Haku sincerely stated, after a short pause.

"Ah…the young Chihiro! How I've missed her lively spirit," Zeniba sat back and smiled.

"Do you realize…the lengths you would have to go through just to see her? And for her to see you?"

"I'm not very familiar with the crafts of this area, but yes, I will do anything it takes."

"You are very intelligent is coming to me before your apprenticeship ends, my dear. My sister's only bounded you to your human form for your purposes in serving her. After the contract is fulfilled, you will return to your natural state, and may never come in contact with humans again."

"It's not much easier now, but who can trump love? Well, we had better get started," Zeniba smiled as she pushed her plate of cake away.
Haku merely bowed and said, "Zeniba, I am deeply grateful for your help. This means a lot to me, and to Chihiro, I'm sure."

"Dear Haku, you've been a great help to me as well, do not feel obliged to do me any favors in the future. You're finally going to be free in a few weeks for goodness sake!"

Haku smiled, but it was a sad solemn smile; the notion of being free had been unimaginably swell up until the part where he might never see Chihiro again.

Without a word Zeniba drew a pen into her arms and a paper slipped neatly on to the table by itself. She wrote 荻野千尋 carefully on to the piece of paper, then hovered her hand above the name. The characters were lifted from the paper and into Zeniba's palm as she started whispering ancient spells. Then a reddish glow emitted from her palms and shone upon the table. Haku looked at her in awe and fear, he had no idea what she was doing.

"Please take off your shirt, my boy," she muttered distractedly. Her concentration and pure strain showed on her wrinkled face as she started sweating profusely, the lines deepened and her arms started shaking. Haku quickly slipped off his simple shirt and faced Zeniba, who took her palm and placed it against the smooth hard plane of the right side of his chest. Haku gasped in pain, her palm was white hot, and he felt like there were roots that were digging and implanting themselves into his chest. After a long period of agony and frustration shared between the two of them, Zeniba pulled away her hand and sighed. She cradled the soft, crinkled skin of her right hand in her left arm.

"Zeniba-san, are you alright?" Haku asked with concern.

"It took a lot out of me, that's for sure. But I'm tired, that's all," Zeniba smiled comfortingly, "What about you?"

Haku silenced, trying to figure out if anything was different with him. There was a strange sound, a muffled thump somewhere in the room. The thumping grew louder and he wondered if Zeniba heard it as well, at first it was light and fluttery, but as the seconds ticked by, the thumping became slow and steady.

Then the answer became so obvious that he was shocked wordless. He bent over and breathed shallow breaths and touched the right side of his chest, and there it was, that same thumping, exactly on the same beat of the thumping he heard, no it was the sound.

"I-I have a h-heart?" Haku gasped and looked up at Zeniba.
"Yes Haku dear, the only reason that this particular spell worked was because of your love for Chihiro. It is so evident that the natural elements have accepted your humanity, and have allowed you to become human, at least for a while."

"I'm a h-human…?" Haku stuttered. He was human, a human, just like Chihiro.

"Yes. But it won't last forever. A river spirit like you was never meant to be contained in something so mortal like a body, much less a human body. No spirits are. And no magic, or love, despite its tremendous power, can force a river spirit to breath life into a human body."

"I see," Haku breathed, "What do I do now?" He started slipping on his shirt.

"Well enjoy your break of course," Zeniba winked then cackled, "Part of Chihiro's identity is imbedded in you, so you'll have no problem finding her. The only problem with a human body is that you won't have any of your sorcery for use in the real world."

Haku slid his hand back over his right chest, feeling slight bumps. He shivered, knowing that it was Chihiro's name over his heart.

He bowed lowly, humbly, in his inexplicable gratitude for Zeniba.

"What if Chihiro wants to visit the spirit world again?" Haku asked.

"Well, you'll always have me to help," Zeniba smiled, "Now off you go! Time is a lot more valuable to humans then spirits."

"Thank you," Haku said again.

OUtside of the cottage, Haku took an experimental breath. He felt his chest and lungs expanding and marveled the feeling of breathing, something he had never experienced before.

He was about to experience hunger, heartache, human emotion and the other flaws of humans, and he was looking forward to all of it. He thought of Chihiro, and how he was finally going to fulfill his promise, and felt his heart ache.

He started running, enjoying the solid contact his feet made with the ground. Everything was so different and as he felt great expectations well up in his heart, he was just happy to be alive.

On this day, after five years of slaving off to Yubaba to earn his freedom, he was finally off to see Chihiro. The thought of that alone drove him into a mode of single-mindedness.

Faster.

-End-

Author's note: This is my first fanfiction for Spirited Away, which is one of my favorite animations EVER!! So as usual, I await your much revered comments, reviews, reactions, etc :)