"You have done well, my beloved daughter…"

That voice… she had not heard it before. It was so soft, so melodious, but it carried a form of iron in it, one that told anyone who heard it that the owner of the voice was not to be trifled with…

She shot open her honey-colored eyes.

She was in a meadow of flowers as far as the eyes could see, and right before was a woman more beautiful than any other than she had seen. Her black hair had a certain blue sheen to it, while her eyes, they were the color of the grey morning… In her fiery red robes, this woman was immediately recognized to be a figure authority, a woman to be obeyed completely. Knowing this, Chihiro stopped herself from staring further at the woman and bowed her head.

The woman chuckled. "There is no need for such formality between you and I, child," she told Chihiro, tipped her chin so that she could have a good look at her. "I do not recall willing you to be so beautiful in this lifetime… But perhaps what I am seeing now is not born; the beauty that you have now has been gained, through all the hardships that you have faced…"

Chihiro felt the woman's finger upon her forehead, and she began to see all those memories of her current lifetime. She saw herself almost drowning in Haku's (former) river, her parents turning into pigs… She saw herself and Rin cleaning the biggest tub in the bathhouse, and Haku being attacked by the paper shikigami Zeniba had sent to retaliate against his theft of her golden seal… Tears started to form as she relieved every moment of her past, those moments that had been nothing more than memories, and those that had just happened… She saw herself and Haku make the promise to meet each other again, and she saw them fulfilling their promise in the direst of circumstances…

"Strange, is it not?" the woman asked her. "It is not the most painful memories that brings us tears, but those of happiness and of joy…" She put her arms around her, and hugged her, just as a mother would hug a child. "I have not been kind to you at all, my own darling, I know… But your existence is crucial to the survival of this Earth, not because you are a magnificent store of power to humankind and Spirit alike, but because you are born to be a bridge between the two worlds… But you already know that, do you not?"

Chihiro nodded. It was something that everyone around her had been telling her again and again, but she felt that there was something more… Something that she had never discovered before, but had always been there, taken for granted by anyone and everyone… She was there to become a bridge, but why would anyone need a bridge such as her… Why was it so important to link the two worlds together, when one realm is immortal, and one is mortal, always decaying, and always changing, although in tangible ways… The Spirit-world, however, never changed. It was always constant, set in its ways… "What is the realm of the Spirits?" she asked the woman, whose expression immediately brightened upon her question.

"Once again, your talents have shown through," the woman told her. "But in essence, I think you already know what it is, you just cannot name it. You have seen many spirits throughout your trials in the bathhouse, and you know that there are several Spirits who govern a certain function…" It was only then when her words started to make sense, and her encounters with the various spirits. There were soot-balls that took care of the furnaces, Dragons like the old river-god and Haku that took care of the bodies of water, the Tortoise that had been an official archivist of the events of their world… She faintly remembered seeing a star, which Rin had indicated, with her golden hair and sapphire eyes…

"It is Nature," Chihiro answered, and the woman nodded, bursting into laughter so clear and thunderous that butterflies started to fly into the skies from the bosoms of the multi-colored flowers all about them.

The woman hugged her again, and said, "Yes, daughter, it is Nature. The flora and the fauna are all governed by the Spirits and the Gods, for it is through them that the wonders of this great Earth is being created. The Grand Canyon does not carve itself in a day, nor do the waters of the Nile knows their yearly course if they were not guided… However, there will be spirits who deliver their duties so mindlessly that it becomes a part of them, set in their ways, unable to change… That is why, after a certain amount of time, they will need some form of encouragement, and empowerment…"

"So I'm supposed to be their plaything?" Chihiro asked. She could not believe what she was hearing. It was as if she was born for no other purpose, but to send the spirits of the world right there to the Dragon's Gate to see who would receive a new set of powers to do their job better… She had lived, loved and lost so many times that she could not be bothered to count at all, and Haku… Haku had given his life to her to stop this. "Do you know how many die at the Dragon's Gate whenever I come along?"

The woman looked into her eyes, and nodded sadly. "They have brought this upon themselves," she answered. "You, my daughter, are a sacred being and even the smallest blessing of your blood, will renew and rejuvenate them… But they got too greedy, and constructed the Dragon's Gate, creating a class of Dragons free to destroy and decimate the world around them. Only one child, who has received this honor, had not followed the footsteps of his predecessors, and he will be greatly rewarded."

Haku… the woman was talking about Haku. He had given himself completely to become the God of his River, and when the waters of the Kohaku River had been drained and diverted, it caused him so much trauma that his memories of his current life were sealed, much less those that had been locked deep into his mind of the years when he was still a Prince of the Carps… And now, as the God of the lake he currently governed, the lake prospered so much that both the Spirit and the human worlds benefited greatly from its beauty and its bounty.

"Yes, I speak of the one who holds your heart, and vice versa," the woman added. "Is it not extraordinary that the two of you always manage to find one another? He was a Prince in your previous lifetime, and you, a daughter of a war-chief of a race now known to be the ancestors of the Slavic races, and now, he is a Dragon who had saved you in your childhood, and aided you once again when you entered the Spirit-realm for the first time… Did you know that in yet another incarnation, he was a scholarly-spirit who overlooked the beginnings of music, while you, you were the first maiden who ever sang to a lyre's tune… Shall I mention more?"

I was bound to you then, as I am bound to you now.

When Haku had told her those words, did he know that their history together went further than two lifetimes?

"Haku…" she murmured his name, the shortened version of the name that she had always known. She remembered the very instant that sword entered her body, he flew towards her and bled himself, so that whatever gifts he had received from her five thousand years ago could be returned… She did not know if it worked, but once again, he gave her his life to protect her…

As fresh tears clouded her vision once again, Chihiro felt the familiar sensation of great warmth and a steady heartbeat approach her. Powerful arms encircled her waist, and she felt a sculpted chin resting over her shoulder… "My love," a voice she knew whispered into her ear.

It was Haku, it really was Haku!

Chihiro completely disregarded the woman, and turned towards him. There he was, Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, the Dragon, no, the being that she loved, not only in this lifetime, but in their countless ones before this… But why… why must they be parted, every five thousand years? Could they not just live in peace? A wordless answer crept into Chihiro's mind, and she knew that he had loved her so much that whenever she had passed on, he would any shred of will to live, so that he might join her again in another lifetime…

"Haku!" she cried into his shoulder, and he held her as he always would, stroking her long hair, whispering more sweet nothings to her, a gesture that he knew, comforted her more than anything in the world. She clung onto him with every fiber of her being, and braced herself as he met his lips with hers. It was a kiss sweeter than any she had experienced, one of reunion, one of joy, and freedom… "Thank you," she said to him while he kissed away her tears of joy, "for everything."

As per usual fashion, Haku said nothing, but nodded and smiled. Now that they were reunited with one another, nothing else really mattered. The world could go to flame and ash, and he would not give a damn about it. Why did Fate have to be so cruel, to keep parting them just after they had found one another?

"Now hold on just a moment, Dragon," the woman said, interrupting their moment together. "Who gave you the right to even think such thoughts about me?"

Haku blinked. For a moment there, he completely did not know what to do. As a powerful Dragon, he was naturally immune to any telepathic attempt to enter his mind, but who was that woman that she was able not only to get past his so-called inborn defenses, but also take offense in a metaphorical jab at a metaphorical entity… Unless… "You," he said, turning towards the woman. "You are Fate…"

The woman laughed at his words. It was an answer that none of them had expected at all… "Yes, you are right, my son," she told Haku. "I am indeed Fate, as you would call me, the Force, the Great Mother, and all those things humans and Spirits would like to call me these days."

Generally such a response would have garnered utter compliance, but not from Haku, never from Haku. Instead, he unsheathed his broadsword and pointed it towards her. "Then I plead you to remove the curse you placed upon us," he snarled, knowing that it was not only futile, but also sacrilege to act like he did towards so powerful an entity. "We are not your playthings, to place here and there at your beck and call…"

The woman only walked closer to him and reached out to him. "I understand your pain," she told him. "Really, I do. But such is the function of my daughter that she can never remain for too long in this world, even if the lifetime of a human is only so short and fleeting."

"Then why us?" he asked her. If she was Fate, surely, she could have done something about it, to perhaps give them a chance when they could remain with one another for longer, to actually have a time when he could watch her live through the end of her days in peace… He did not ask for much, not even to be blessed with one or two children by her, just to be with her, more than the time allotted to them both. "If you love us so, why tear us apart as you have?"

Chihiro was silent. For her, she was already resigned to her own mortality. She had always been a human, she had always known that her days upon this world, no matter how beautiful, no matter how she was loved and had loved, would only be temporary. "Haku…" she soothed the Dragon that still held her, adamant in keeping her by his side. She was tired as well, to run and hide from those who wanted her blood, tired from living through everything again, tired from…

"It is so because even the energies of the world in excess would dissipate sooner or later," Fate answered Haku. "Every five thousand years, the world renews itself, and if it ceases thus, even you Gods and Spirits will grow old and pass into nothingness like the humans."

So, this was the answer to all the riddles. The reason why Chihiro exists and the reason why she was here in the very world. How she was able to "touch" all those Spirits, giving them hope and change when they needed, and her love, when she was loved in return.

"Thank you," Chihiro bowed towards Fate after pulling away from Haku in the gentlest manner possible. She was no longer crying, that time of utter joy had passed (for not all tears were associated with grief), nor was she… discontent with what she had to put up with any longer. She knew what her responsibilities were now, and if… she was truly dead, she would willingly go where she needed to go.

"And where are you going, daughter?" Fate asked her with the most radiant smile she had ever seen, stopping her in mid-thought. "Why would you leave your beloved Dragon after all you have gone through in time immemorial?"

It was not a question. That much Chihiro understood. After hearing those words, she ran back into Haku's arms. Finally, a lifetime to be with Haku, no longer filled with bloodshed, no longer with the threat of death so imminent…

Fate's smile continued even as she gathered both of them in a maternal embrace. "By destroying the Dragon's Gate, you both deserve what little time you have left with one another," she told them. "I promise you that your days will be worth your while from now on."

"I will hold you to your promise," Haku said, kissing the top of Chihiro's head. "Now, I plead you, return us to the world of the living."

They said the love of a Dragon was so strong that it transcends even time itself. Once a Dragon loves a soul, it does not let go, not even when they were parted by Death itself. They said that if one had the love of a Dragon, one never could really die, and would forever remain in memory, living through the Dragon itself…

But this Dragon knew that he would be more fortunate than all other Dragons who fell in love with mortal humans, whose lifetimes are so short that they resemble placing one's footsteps into the sea-washed beaches. With every step they went forward, but with each passing moment, the sea washes them away…

As he interred his beloved into the grave that she herself had chosen after a lifetime of such joy and happiness, right beside the tunnel that led to the Aburaya Bathhouse, witnessed by those who had been touched by her presence, all those who would remember her as a feisty child that dared defy a Witch, that dared to love a Dragon in return, and again, as a woman who overcame all odds to fight against the current of destiny and succeeded, Haku knew that death was not an ending, it was only a beginning…

"I will meet you again, my love," he said to her grave when it was filled. His hand glowed in a sort of gold light, and soon, a shoot sprouted beside the marker of the final resting place of her current incarnation. The shoot's leaves were green on the surface, but underneath, they were silver. This shoot would soon grow into a tree, and it would guard her, one that he had willed into existence because she had once told him that it was one of the favorite things from a series of books she so loved. In the autumn, the leaves would turn gold, and in Spring, golden flowers would appear as well… "I will return when this tree towers all others, even in a forest as dark as this."

She knew this place… She knew it like the back of her hand… But why, and how, she could never comprehend, because she had never came here before… There was something about this place, something that called her name, and she wanted to find out what it was.

She walked through the forested path, finding nothing, but the pull from whatever was in front of her to be so strong that she could not help but to venture further. And thus she walked, and she walked further forwards until she came by a magnificent tree, so tall that it must have been able to reach the sun. Its leaves, they remained on the tree even though it was already winter, and the bark was white and smooth, like pearls…

To the right of the tree was a red structure that reminded her of architecture of thousands and thousands years past, back when that country had been a great economic power, back when it's ancient pride was not forgotten… A glimmer of light caught her eye, and her gaze was turned towards the tree, or rather, something below it… It was a tombstone.

It was written in a language she could not decipher, perhaps one used by the ancients who once walked this earth, but she had no chance to wonder more about it. She had felt a strange presence, one that made her heart go aflutter with no particular reason…

It was a man, tall and broad-shouldered, handsome beyond measure. His hair was black, but seemed to have an olive hue to it when it reflected the golden light of the leaves above them… He was robed in blue and white, something that she seemed to remember. "Welcome home, my love," he said to her, with an open smile, emerald eyes sparkling…

And in that moment and time, she heard yet another voice. "Sa i meleth amlug," the female voice chuckled and disappeared entirely.

For the longest time, she looked at the man, not knowing who he was. He seemed so familiar to her, even though she had never seen him before until now. A name… He had to have a name… Yes, everyone has a name…

She uttered the first one that came to her mind, and when it reverberated in her mind, she knew that she could not make a mistake at all.

"Haku," she called him, and he drew her into her arms as a response.

Who needed the love of a Dragon, when that Dragon had the love of a woman, bound to him as he had been to her, across time and even lifetimes?

HAN: AAAHHH! It's finally done! Yay! I really hope that you liked the ending?

A great thanks to all who read and reviewed this fic, and I have to say, it was a fun challenge, Capital E. I even managed to do it with 14 chapters to spare!

Now, all there's left to do is to give this little ficcie one final review, and hope that Miyazaki chances across this and turns this into the sequel. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ^.^

Stay happy and healthy, y'all!