Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros. Entertainment, Scholastic Press, Bloomsbury Books, and other associates. Spirited Away belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.
Note: There are no pairings in this particular fic.
Author: ObsidianEbony
Summary: The first time she saw him, it was at a distance.
Rating: K

A Road to Somewhere

The first time she saw him, it was at a distance.

"Stay away from that guy."

Chihiro looked up from her scrubbing. "Huh?"

The young girl followed Lin's finger. Her eyes landed on a small figure almost hidden in the midst of the bath house's usual nighttime crowd.

Save for the man's all-black attire—a strange sight in the vibrant hues of the bath house—he was ordinary, she thought to herself. Almost like a human. Then, a pair of emerald eyes flickered towards her and her breath caught. Those eyes weren't at all human. Not one bit. Though the man appeared young, his eyes were old, so very, very old.

Looking closer, she saw the other guests, the lords and ladies of the Spirit World, giving the man a wide berth. Even the staff, who usually took every opportunity possible to suck up to the clients, seemed reluctant to get close to him.

"Who's he?" she asked Lin, who still stood there, staring at the strange youngbutold man with an unreadable expression.

"Someone you never want to meet. Stay away from him, Sen," Lin repeated. Then, as if she hadn't just acted so out of character, Lin bent down and resumed in scrubbing the big tub with Chihiro.

Later, after the debacle with the river spirit, Chihiro looked around at the crowd of guests, who were drunk on their free sake, and couldn't find the man. Shrugging, she went back to the dorms, anticipating the large manju Lin had saved for her, putting him out of her mind.

The next time she saw him, he was even further away.

Chihiro sighed as she and Haku walked out of the pigpens. Now that she had spent some time away from them, her parents seemed even more like pigs. What would happen if she couldn't tell them apart from the real pigs later? Would they be killed? She bit her lip in worry and didn't notice Haku abruptly stopping.

"Oof!" she grunted as she collided into his back. "What was that for, Ha—?"

"You must never talk to that man, Chihiro."

"What?"

Eyes following Haku's cold gaze, Chihiro saw the mysterious man from yesterday. This time, he stood in the gardens. The contrast between his dark robes and the colorful flowers was even starker than it was in the bath house. He was a shadow that seemed to dance amongst the blooms, just noticeable enough to be a continuous presence in her peripheral vision, but only just.

"Why?" she asked, looking at her companion curiously. Lin had said the same thing to her last night and now Haku was telling her again. Then she remembered his eyes and shivered.

"Why is he so…so…?" She struggled to find a word to describe him and the odd feeling she got looking into his eyes, how there was strange barrier between him and the rest of the people at the bath house.

Haku looked at her solemnly and said, "Because he is the Master of Death."

The third time she saw him, they actually talked.

Chihiro gazed lazily at the large expanse of water that spread out serenely in front of her. It was so much quieter out here on the tiny balcony than in rest of the bath house, where everyone was scrambling for gold. She would much rather keep a lookout for Haku than go deal with that chaos. Speaking of Haku, where was he? Why wasn't he back yet? She bit her lip a little worriedly.

"Mizuchi-dono wishes for me to thank you on his behalf."

Startled, her head shot up and hit the beam of the balcony with a loud thunk. "Owww…" she moaned, rubbing her head.

A muffled laugh broke through the haze of pain and she indignantly glared at the man standing next to her through teary eyes. Amused verdant eyes looked back at her intently, unfazed by her glower.

"You're supposed to apologize for that, you know," she said sulkily when he remained silent.

"And why would I when I did nothing wrong?" came the amused reply.

"Because—because you made me bump my head!" she spluttered.

The man snorted. "Of course."

An awkward pause quickly followed and no words were spoken. Suddenly, Chihiro remembered. This was the man that both Lin and Haku had warned her to avoid. Tensing, she got ready to escape.

"I'm sorry, sir. I need to get to work now." She bowed and took a step towards the door.

"Please stay. I didn't mean to bother you."

"I'm sorry," she repeated and walked faster to the exit.

"Stay. It's not like there's any work left down there anyway, not with all those pigs shoving one another out of the way for gold."

Chihiro hesitated. That was true. Even if she did go downstairs, she would likely be trampled by the others. They were quite greedy, and she wouldn't have Lin around to help her. Sighing, she made her way back to the edge of the balcony and plopped down next to the man. He smiled at her.

"So, little human, what's your name?"

"Isn't it polite to introduce yourself first?" she blurted out rudely before clapping her hands to her mouth, mortified. This was the man both her friends had marked as dangerous and she had talked back to him like he was just an average person!

The man threw his head back and laughed long and loud. "You know, you're quite refreshing. I haven't met someone like you for a while," he said, wiping a tear from his eye. "I'm Harry."

"I'm Sen," Chihiro paused and frowned. "Your name doesn't sound Japanese."

"It's not. It's English."

"You're from England?" she asked, surprised. He spoke with no accent at all!

"Yes," Harry smiled sadly. "But I haven't been there in a long, long time."

"Why not?"

"Oh, numerous reasons," he said with a shrug. "One of which is my position."

"Your position?" She paled, remembering Haku's words from the day before.

'He's the Master of Death.'

What does he want from me? she thought, shaking a little.

Harry—no, the Master of Death—looked at her with those ancient eyes and he seemed a little more distant than before. "I just wanted to know why Yubaba, a notorious hater of humans, allowed a human to work here in the first place. But I got what I came for, and I see I've overstayed my welcome."

Chihiro watched him warily as he stood up and brushed off some dust from his robes. She noticed on his left hand a ring with a peculiar symbol on it. She felt unsettled and looked away.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Chihiro. Good luck." The hand with the ring patted her lightly on the head.

With a small pop, he disappeared and she was suddenly left alone on the balcony. Sighing once more, she looked out at the sea of rainwater once more, hearing the train pass by with a mournful wail.

A few moments passed before she stiffened. How did he know my real name?

Author's Note:

This story didn't turn out the way exactly I planned it to. It's also un-betaed, so it's probably riddled with grammar mistakes as well. T^T Gah, it's been so long since I've written anything.

This is my take on what would happen if Harry and Chihiro met as well as my contribution to the woefully small Harry Potter/Spirited Away x-over community on ffnet (seriously guys, this fandom needs a lot more love!). In here, the spirits all fear death (and by association, Harry), which is why Lin and Haku both warn Chihiro about him.

The title, "A Road to Somewhere," is the name of one of the songs from the Spirited Away OST composed by Joe Hisaishi.

For those wondering about how the chronology of this story relates to the chronology of the movie:

The first part takes place right before the stink spirit/river spirit appears. He's called Kawa no Kami (川の神), and because Yubaba calls him rich and powerful, I decided to make him a river god, or Mizuchi. As for why I didn't give him a specific name, go to en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Mizuchi (remove the spaces) and take a look at William George Aston's description on Mizuchi. However, I would very much appreciate it if someone could tell me of a better substitute for Mizuchi!

The second part takes place somewhere between the whole stink spirit debacle and when the frog and No Face first meet. I basically shoved one day in between the two events. (It doesn't mess up the canon timeline too badly, I think. That frog could've gone looking for gold any day. It didn't necessarily have to be the same night as the night with the river spirit.)

The third part happens right before Chihiro sees Haku being attacked by Zeniba's shikigami.

As for Suzaki Hikari, it's been a few years since I last updated and I feel that my writing has matured a bit. (Of course, that could just be my imagination speaking.) I've re-read what I've written so far and cringed throughout the entire thing. At the moment, I'm debating on whether or not I should a) scrap the whole thing and re-write it all, b) forge on anyway, or c) forget about the story entirely.

Please be a dear and leave a review! Constructive criticism would be very much appreciated!