After a very long hiatus (writer's block) I decided to jump into fandom once more. I found this file lurking around my coumputer and made it into a short and sweet one shot. Even if your not a fan of one shots please read it, you might surprise yourself and like it.

- Shall we begin then? Please join me as we explore the idea of "maybe" after Chihiro and Haku bid farewell after their adventrures together.

MAYBE

Maybe if they had met at another time. Maybe if destiny had been kinder. Maybe if they had been older. Maybe then they would have been together. Maybe then the story would have ended the way it was meant, the way we wanted it, the way we needed it to. But maybe is just a word.

Maybe does not stop love, does not stop heartache, and does not make things happen. Maybe is just a word that dreamers use to sweeten their coffee on Saturday mornings. And so the broken fairy tale went on of our two little dreamers and their lives intertwined in Destiny's thread as she carefully weaved the tapestry of eternity.

Our dreamers parted as promises were given; promises we wished to believe but knew could not be kept. They went their separate ways as we watched our eyes glistening as we whispered "maybe" into the silence that surrounded us.

Years past, rushing in torrents and tsunamis leaving Chihiro older, wiser, and Haku waiting always waiting on the other side of her world, forgotten by time. She seemed to forget the Spirit World all together letting it fade into her memory as an abandoned theme park, forcing the memories back further and further. Haku stood each day silently watching for a girl racing across the sea of grass and into his arms each day he left at sunset the word "maybe" lingering on his lips.

We waited each day our hearts heavy as Chihiro grew more distant to her past loosing her childhood laugh, dressing in tight clothing leaving her t-shirt and shorts in the trash. We watched as she began to flirt, to crush, to want, as she began to grow, as she began to forget Haku entirely. We held our breath as Haku began to wait for Chihiro less and less his eyes growing wary of the setting sun leaving earlier each day from his watch post. Still, the dreamers that we are, we said "maybe" repeated it as a mantra, a lullaby that would sing us to sleep and mask our fears.

The seasons changed summer giving way to fall, fall to winter, and winter to spring. Chihiro changed, her brown hair highlighted and grown long, then cut short, then grown long again. The purple hair tie that she clung to when she was younger slipped out of her hair and onto her wrist where it dangled loosely glittering in the sunlight holding our prayers and our whispered wishes. Haku gave up upon waiting, he raced and skimmed along the air flying faster and faster willing himself to forget about the small girl that had given him her freedom, and whom he had given his heart.

We grew weary as we glanced at the story of our young dreamers, took our coffee black on Saturday mornings forsaking the sugar of maybe. Our eyes were bloodshot from sleepless nights as we watched Destiny's quick hands weave upward on her never ending board her hands reaching higher and higher. Smiling we brushed our hands across the tapestry she made and stroked the gleaming golds, and sparkling blues of the fabric as she brushed our hands aside to create a new row of color.

We watched our eyes straying as the picture remained the same, perfect, serene and unchanging. We hurled ourselves away from the sight willing our lungs to breathe as sobs caught in our throats willing Destiny to find a loose thread, a small hole, a simple imperfection. She went onward unhurried as her pale hands flitted upon her loom and her steady breath matched the unending rhythm of her hands. We sat again and watched as the story unfolded beneath Destiny's hands until the sonata seemed to peak and we feared it had finally become the end.

Chihiro was there again but older and so frail, she trembled as she brushed a child's head her voice low as she told a story of a young girl and the spirit of a river. Her eyes filled with tears that slowly spilt over the edge of her eyelids and slowly drained themselves into her cupped hands. We reached out our hands blocked by glass as we tried to comfort her, our hearts breaking a second time as we whispered "maybe" into the wind that caught her now grey hair and tousled it along with a child's laugh.

We pushed the wind onward with our breaths far across the land until it halted before our dragon boy, Haku. Cupping our hands we whisper "maybe" into his listening ear praying that he would listen to our one last plea.

But maybe is for dreamers to sweeten their coffee on Saturday mornings, and neither child heard our one last plea. Destiny pulled the last string tight, separating her scissors to cut when her hand fell and she reached forward to see one small mistake.

We held our breaths as Destiny frowned seeing a skipped stitch in her tapestry. Gently she coaxed the thread to give way and separate beneath her fingers as she slowly coaxed a single red thread through the hole and across the tapestry, connecting two hearts, two memories and two lifes together.

We turn once more to our two dreamers clenching our teeth to keep back our maybes, trying to keep our Saturday morning coffees black. We watch as days speed back as Destiny keeps her hand steady weaving through their lives. We clutch hopelessly at remote controls pressing rewind repeatedly but to no avail, their outcome relies only on Destiny.

Chihiro runs down the shadowed hillside towards the entrance of the spirit world, breathless she continues screaming the name of the dragon boy she saved so long ago. They collide together and clutch at each other with a ferocity even Destiny can not part.

We brush the tapestry smiling sending one last breeze their way, a breeze that is wordless the maybe swept from our mouths.

Now for longer commentary from the author! For those of you delightful readers who have read "Fate" by me I know this story and Fate trasnpire with the same sort of idea with personifying Destiny and Fate as two active characters in Haku and Chihiro's life so please forgive me for that similarity and hopefully you were still able to enjoy this story. Please, please leave a small comment, review, constructive criticism its all appreciated and welcome. If you liked this story please go to my page and read my other stories, you would make this writer very happy by doing so.

Thank You for your time... -LifesDarkFire