A/N: i am so, so very incredibly sorry for such a long delay... please forgive me *sobs*

Part II

"Heels, Chihiro, really? Heels? Bloody brilliant…" Chihiro muttered under her breath as she, painstakingly slowly, climbed the rocky hill…

It took her almost four months. Four months before she finally managed to even start planning her trip to see him. It was summer now, the school was out and Chihiro finally, finally was doing it. It took begging and cursing and swearing up and down to her parents that she'll be safe, sound and protected for them to even consider allowing her this. The whole four months Yue kept on laughing her ass off every day Chihiro would come to school and it took all Chihiro had, to just not strangle her best friend then and there. Those four months felt like forty years and every day felt like hell. And the worst thing… it wasn't even the longing, nor the share and pure desire to see him, touch him, feel him. It was the dreams. The dreams she had almost every night. She would close her eyes and she would see him, right there, in front of her, smiling, calling her closer. And she would go to him. And he would hug her; he would lean over her, his lips soft and slow on hers, his hands, caressing her body, his eyes, boring into hers. And then, just when they were about to… the alarm would go off, the thunder would strike right outside her window, the fireworks would start randomly or her little brother would jump on her bed and, alas, on her, yelling Indian shouts and claiming victory of her bed (his new conquered territory). All of these interruptions, intentional or not, were gradually not only wearing her out, but also making her more frustrated by the second. And a frustrated Chihiro, was a cranky Chihiro. And Chihiro, as a rule, was never cranky, so now that she was, her parents were completely baffled. They had no clue what was going on with their little girl and they were getting worried. One night, when Chihiro and Yue had their usual "girls night-sleepover-ice-cream feast-pillow fight" Chi's mother was walking down the corridor and just happened to overhear what the two girls were talking about.

"…so, you're saying that now –pop- he's waiting for you?"

"Yeah…and I told him I'd be right there… but look at me! I'm still here… and he's there…and I'm just…"

"-pop-"

"Oh, Yue… I just… I just want to see him so, so bad…" after another pop, all Chihiro's mother could hear were silent sobs and hushed Yue's voice trying to calm her daughter down. That same evening as the older woman was climbing into the bed, she addressed her husband.

"You know, darling, Chihiro has never really asked for anything, has she..?" her husband put the paper down, took his glasses of and rubbed his tired eyes.

"Your point being?" mother sighed and bit her lip.

"Well, maybe we should let her take that trip she's been asking so much for… after all, it's just for the summer." Father took one look at his wife, ready to object, but… something in her eyes stopped him and the man simply nodded.

And that is how, now, on the first day of summer break, Chihiro was marching up a hill, after leaving her car in front of the tunnel, carrying a huge backpack, wearing heels, miniskirt, appropriately low cleavage and make-up all in place. Except for the heels… which were a truly, very bad choice indeed. Ergo all the cursing and the completely snail-like pace from the young, frustrated and grumpy woman who was, at the moment, just reaching the top of the hill. She heaved a sigh and a grin split across her face – she could finally see the Village. All that was left was crossing the dry river, walking through the village and there, she could swear she already saw the smoke and steam rising in the distance, the Bathhouse would be.

"Finally…" she breathed and did her best at picking up her pace. Meanwhile, one, also quite cranky master of the Bathhouse, was, currently, trying his best to keep his eyes open, while he read yet another turned-in-late report from Yoing.

"For Water's sake, the Hell does he mean that "the situation couldn't be avoided"? Sweet Saints of the Underworld that guy is hopeless…" he was about to call the said 'hopeless guy' in for one heck of a verbal beat-down, but then, something started ringing and made Haku's head snap up, all thoughts of hollering at Yoing forgotten. He sprang to his feet and skipped to a bookcase – where a small, now glowing brightly rock lay. Picking it up, the master narrowed his eyes and… almost dropped the rock right then and there. "She's…she's…here!" he whispered throwing the rock back onto its shelf and rushing back to his desk, slam-opening his drawer and pulling out a little, decorated wooden box. Opening it to make sure that the thing that was supposed to be inside still was there, he quickly closed it back up, raised it to his lips, closed his eyes and muttered an incantation. When he was done, the little box disappeared with a quiet poof and the Master of the Otherwold's largest Bathhouse sprinted to his full-length mirror. "Need to check my appearance… do I look okay? Should I change? Should I take a shower? What about shaving? Nnn…. Imma do everything… just to be safe…"he finally muttered already starting to take of his jacket, while he turned and practically skipped towards his bathroom. Yoing, who was standing frozen on his doorstep, his hand raised to knock, his mouth hanging open – put down his hand and muttering "I'll come back later…" silently slipped away, completely unnoticed by his Master.

Chihiro, meanwhile, was already half-way through the empty village. Walking through the deserted streets somehow made her feel completely at ease.

"That's so weird…" the young woman hummed to herself. "This place used to scare me half to death when I was little…"she slowed her pace and simply spent some time wondering the streets aimlessly, enjoying the peace and quiet that the daytime provided. When she finally reached the bridge that, in her mind, connected the two worlds, His and Hers, she stopped again. Smiling, Chihiro tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear nervously and lifted her foot to take a first step onto the bridge and into her, so long awaited, life, but then she had to put her foot right back down as she felt her pocket heating up. "The heck.." she murmured putting her hand into the heating space and pulling out a little, beautifully carved, wooden box. Her eyebrow rose and she slowly lifted the lid open. Then she squealed. A squeal that, had he heard it, would have made one certain Master extremely pleased with his skills at making certain jewelry for certain young female. However, said Master was currently scrubbing away in the shower, whistling lightly and so, missed the whole event completely. "Wow…" Chihiro breathed as she pulled out a pendant on a simple string. The pendant itself, however, was anything but simple – it was shaped like a dragon, colored with blue, white and silver and the most amazing part was – the little dragon was moving. Chihiro stood mesmerized as the tiny creature flew and flipped and turned in the crevice of her palms. A full grin blooming on her face, young woman took the string and tied it into a knot over her neck, leaving enough string for the dragon to move as it pleased. Completely baffling her yet again, however, her new tiny friend rolled into some sort of a circle as it were, lying comfortably against her collar bone and seemed to drift off to sleep. Barely containing another girly squeal from escaping, Chihiro finally took that first step onto the bridge…

Haku, who was, at the meantime, rubbing shampoo on his hair, stiffened and grinned.

"It's on her neck then." He hummed happily and then sputtered – the shampoo had run down the side of his face and was now, surprise surprise, peacefully flowing straight into his grinning mouth… the Master of the Bathhouse rolled his eyes and… howled – now he had shampoo in his eyes as well. With an angry growl, he waved a hand and water started pouring down from the ceiling of his shower, effectively washing all the shampoo away. "Thank the Water she wasn't here to witness this…fail…" he grumbled getting out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist, already thinking about what he should wear in order to impress his Mistress.

As soon as her foot landed, the young woman felt a breath of wind surround her and she stopped for a moment gasping – the up to now completely masked from her eyes Spirit World had opened its curtain and there, before her, was the bridge, full of Spirits, who were busying along to and fro the Bathhouse all deep in their own business. When the wind fell, however, the Spirits froze; apparently, the curtain was lifted from their eyes as well. Chihiro bit her lip in worry – perhaps… coming here without Haku by her side wasn't such a good idea after all…

But then all the Spirits bowed as one and blinking, the young woman realized that they were bowing before her.

"Oh…boy…" she muttered completely at a loss of what she was supposed to do now. Thankfully, someone seemed to take pity on the poor, confused girl and then she had her arms full of a squealing, laughing mess.

"Sen! I mean, Chihiro! Finally, you're here!" Chihiro laughed, hugging the other female and grinned.

"Lin! I missed you so bad." She muttered into her friend's long hair and sighed – finally, finally she was beginning to feel like she was home again.

"So…" Lin started after bustling Chihiro inside and into her own living quarters for some privacy. "How have you been all this time? So many years have passed… I was really worried you wouldn't even remember me, to be perfectly honest with you…" she finished grinning and Chihiro couldn't help but grin back.

"Yeah, no way I would ever forget my first friend. Speaking of many… how many years have I been gone, exactly?" she asked and Lin frowned.

"Urm…" she frowned some more and started counting on her fingers. "Ten…no, twenty? Or is it thirty something already? Heh, to be honest, I've lost count. I mean, don't get me wrong, I missed you, but I didn't exactly spend every waking moment of my day counting the seconds you were gone either. Unlike someone I know." She added winking and the younger girl blushed.

"He missed me, you think?" she bit her lip worriedly then. "He did give me this…"she muttered fingering her dragon, "…but… it was my idea to come here and maybe he didn't want that and oh my god what if this is all in my head and…" Lin's eyebrows shot up and she started laughing at the almost hyperventilating girl.

"Whoa, Chihiro, would you listen to yourself? The Master is head over heels in love with you, that, I guarantee you. I mean, this thing," she pointed to the dragon which hissed at her finger, "this is beyond priceless and difficult beyond belief to make. The share, pure magic that had to go into it… it makes me weak just thinking about it…So yeah, I'd say he most definitely missed you." Chihiro beamed and Lin shook her head, those two were just perfect for each other weren't they?

"Enough about all that though, tell me what you've been up to all this time!"

"Hehehe… well, first, when I was finished with my slaving under Yubaba, I took the train and…"

By the time both girls were done catching up, it had fallen dark outside and Lin had to get straight to work. With a final wink and a wish to 'make up for the lost time', she left the younger female by the elevator that would take her straight to Haku and ran to work. Taking one final deep breath, Chihiro called for the elevator, got on, willed her blush under control and stepped out of it, a smile adorning her face. However… instead of a warm welcome or, actually, any sort of welcome in general, the corridor was dark. Blinking away the dread, creeping into her chest, Chihiro walked, her pace increasing by the step, down corridor after corridor, taking, what she vaguely remember being the way to Yubaba's old office. The chamber she came upon was well lit and stacked with as many trinkets on every surface as she remembered. Taking a cautious step inside, the young woman took a look around, only to find herself completely alone.

"Well… can't say this is the welcome I exp-"

"MASTER HAKU, SIR!" Chihiro jumped at the loud voice and then blinked, when a totally out of breath young boy came tumbling through the door only to stop at a screeching halt upon seeing her. After a moment of silence, said boy gasped and then smacked himself over the head loudly. "STUPID, STUPID, STUPID ME! HE'S GONE ALREADY! ARGH, WHAT TO DO, WHATTODOWHATTODONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!" he wailed as he dropped to his knees and started banging his head against the floor. Raising an eyebrow, Chihiro walked over to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey there, won't you calm down, please?" when the banging stopped, she gave him an encouraging smile and continued. "You're Yoing, I take it?" the boy's eyes widened to such extents she feared for a while they might fall out, but finally, he nodded in affirmative and answered her.

"And you're our Mistress." Only a second later did she realize that it wasn't a question.

"I..am?" Yoing started nodding furiously.

"Uhu! The Master would always call you that and since there's a portrait of you in his chambers and I saw it once I knew at once that you're her!"

"His chambers huh…" Chihiro asked slyly and was about to ask Yoing to show her the way, when his eyes widened again and he gasped loudly.

"You're here!" she sweat-dropped.

"Indeed I am. And?"

"And! That means you can help me! There's been a horrible mix-up with the bath tokens and everyone's in a panic downstairs, because Kamadzi is on a boycott and-!" he ran out of breath then and doubled over wheezing.

"I see. Well then, I guess I've no choice but to help you since Haku's not here. I'm a bit foggy on the way though, so you go first." Yoing had actual tears in his eyes when she said this and nodded furiously before gathering up the stack of papers he had tossed to the air upon entering the chamber and rushed out, leading her to the boiler room. As it turned out, Kamadzi was indeed on a boycott for even before Chihiro had the chance to enter the boiler room, she could hear the old spider's rants loud and clear.

"…absolute nonsense! I will not stand for this any longer. If you fools cannot even decide among yourselves how many tablets are enough for one quota, I will not- oh… oh my, Chihiro, my dear child. You've returned!" the old boiler man jumped from his seat, pushed all the worker spirits aside and rushed the young woman in a hug, making her laugh and squeal with joy.

"Uncle Kamadzi! I've missed you." She muttered hugging him tightly, before releasing him with a smile and then raising an eyebrow. "So, I hear you're boycotting." The old spider tsked and shrugged as he turned and climbed back into his seat. "Come now, Uncle, that's not nice. You're going to give poor Yoing an aneurism. Why don't you just give them the water they all want so they would all leave and we could catch up?" while Kamadzi did just that, grumbling all the while mind you; the worker spirits all gave Chihiro thankful glances and bows before leaving quickly to resume their work.

When the old boiler man was finally done with sending herb filled water for every tablet he received and turned to his 'granddaughter', he found her curled up on the floor, fast asleep. Shaking his head, Kamadzi gently put a blanket over her sleeping form and returned to work, instructing his coaly workers to work as quietly as possible.

By the time sun rose in the morning, the Master of the Bathhouse had returned. As usual, he came in through the boiler room, in order to avoid the workers that still weren't quite asleep. The last thing he wanted after these all-nighters were to hear spirits complain. Just imagine his surprise when upon entry, he saw none other than his Mistress, sound asleep, on Kamadzi's floor. His expression softening and a smile flowing to his eyes, Haku picked her up as gently as possible and then proceeded to carry her all the way to the top floor of the Bathhouse, through his office, study and into the master bedroom, where he laid her onto the bed. Then, as softly as possible, he took of her shoes and jacket, let her hair down from the ponytail it was in, put the covers over her and failed to stifle a yawn of his own. Rubbing a hand over his tired eyes, Haku went to the other side of the bed, tossing of his clothing as he went, got into it, made sure Chihiro was covered up properly and wouldn't get cold while sleeping and…felt asleep as fast as his head hit the pillow.

She woke from the waves on anxiety that were washing over her. Still groggy from sleep, Chihiro tore her eyes open only to see the worried sick expression of Yoing, who was fretting besides the bed.

"What's up?" she asked covering a yawn and blinked when the spirit shushed her, looking terrified.

"Master's still sleeping!" he hissed hurriedly tossing a fearful glance over her shoulder, "And I don't know what to do! One of our ovens exploded down at the kitchens and there's a huge party of high-ranking spirits coming in tonight and now we can't prepare the feast they pre-ordered and I don't know what to doooooo!" Chihiro sighed and waved the hyperventilating spirit away.

"Hush now. I'll be right there. You go on ahead, I'll expect a full damage report as soon as I'm down." Tears streaming down his face, Yoing nodded furiously as he skedaddled out of the bedroom and down the corridor. The young woman stretched as she looked around and then blushed, realizing she had slept in the same bed as the afore mentioned Master of the Bathhouse. Suddenly, Yoing's panic and hushed whispering made much more sense. Even through the embarrassment, she had to giggle – the situation must have looked terrifying to the poor spirit. The young woman got up, redressed quickly (she found her bags right there, by the bed, how- she didn't really care) and went straight down to the kitchens, where an oven had indeed, exploded. Struggling not to facepalm Chihiro rolled her sleeves up and got straight into doing everything possible to save the situation…

With a loud yawn, Haku woke up, feeling rested and refreshed and for the first time in, what felt like forever, truly happy. Feeling a ridiculous grin pull at his lips, he rolled over, only to have the grin evaporate – he was alone in the bed.

"Chi..?" he muttered crawling over to her side of the bed and his eyebrow rose as he noticed the little piece of paper placed on the pillow where her head was supposed to be resting. 'It seems there's some trouble in the kitchens. I'm heading down there to see if I can do anything to help. P.S. you look adorable while you sleep. –C' Spluttering, Haku got up and went to the shower, fighting down his blush. "You're the adorable one, you dummy…" while he was bathing, an urgent missile from the Spirit World Leaders arrived, thus pulling him not only from the shower, but from the Bathhouse as well, leaving his domain in the quickly learning hands of his Mistress. Speaking of whom, Chihiro was neck deep into preparing a feast for the night's festivities when her dragon necklace awoke.

"Huh? What's this?" the woman blinked when her dragon yawned and unwove from its place on her collarbone only to fly up to her ear.

"My Chi."

"HAKU?!" the plates she was carrying promptly crashed to the floor and the worker spirits around her froze in shock.

"Yep. Sadly, I was called away on urgent business. I am not quite sure how long I'll be away." Before she could so much as open her mouth to complain, her little dragon continued, "I entrust my Bathhouse to your capable hands, my Chi. I promise to return as soon as I possibly can. I…" it was obvious he struggled for a moment before finishing, "I'll see you soon." And just like that, the dragon flew back down and curled into a ball on her collarbone.

"M-mistress?" Yoing tried and then yelped – her eyebrow was twitching and Chihiro heard herself growl.

"That… that… UGH! Almighty Master my ass! WHY ARE YOU LOT JUST STANDING THERE? BACK TO WORK, NOW!" the worker spirits did as bade and soon, the kitchens were bustling with cooking noises and a terrified glance here or there.

In the morning, when the huge party was over and done with without a glitch, when the Bathhouse was closed for the day, when the workers were fast asleep, Chihiro dragged her exhausted body to the top floor, stumbled her way into the bedchambers and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep way before her head hit the pillows. She awoke half a day later. Alone. His side of the bed looked untouched. Needless to say, the young woman was annoyed and quite rightly so. However, there was nothing she could do, really. So she sighed, got up and went to have a nice long soak in the ridiculously huge bath that was just next door. She must have drifted off, because Yoing, who barged in, seemingly but a second later, made her flinch.

"MISTRESS, THERE'S TROUBLE-!" Chihiro sighed, resigned to her fate, wrapped a towel around herself and came out of the bathroom.

"Yoing, calm yourself and tell me what's wrong…"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Spirit World, Haku was putting his best efforts into not killing everyone sitting around the table he was currently sitting at.

"We've been at this for two days already. How much longer are you going to keep this pointless debate up?" he asked raking his fingers through his long locks and sighing. The Spirit World leaders started bristling about again, but Haku was quickly losing any remnants of patience he had left. Finally, he banged a hand on the table and stood up, green flames coming out of his mouth as he raised his voice over the ruckus. "Enough." It might have been the flames, because he didn't shout, he had more class than that, but the spirits quieted down. "I am leaving now." Before anyone could protest, he continued, tossing a deathly glare their way for good measure. "I will give you a week, which means seven days, count with me here, se-ven da-ys, to figure out this issue. If you lot cannot manage to resolve the issue by then, I will do so myself. Whatever way I see fit. That is all." He finished, turned and, without waiting for anymore comments or pretests or anything, really, went to the balcony, turned into a dragon and flew away. Straight for his Bathhouse and his Mistress.

By the time he managed to get back, another full day had passed and Chihiro was, yet again, in the kitchens, orchestrating yet another major party, which was to take place that evening. Upon his landing, Haku was met by Yoing and his report.

"So, what's wrong?" the Master asked out of habit and was surprised when instead of a flinch, he got a smile from his assistant.

"Absolutely nothing, my Master, the Mistress has been taking excellent care of everything in your absence." He said gloating and for some odd reason, Haku felt annoyed.

"And where might I find the Mistress?" his tone made Yoing flinch, which in turn made Haku strangely satisfied. Shrugging of the weird surges of emotions, he focused on what his assistant was saying.

"That would be the kitchens, Master. Oh no, wait." He said quickly glancing at his sandwatch, "At this time of day you should find her in the gardens, she usually takes a break right about now." Ignoring a painful pang in his chest, Haku nodded and turned on his heel to leave for the gardens, mumbling under his breath, something about how 'learning her routine should be his business and no one else's'.

He did indeed find her in the gardens. She was lying on a blanket, in the middle of a field of blue flowers, looking serene, comfortable. A smile touched her lips as he approached and she purred, stretching.

"About damn time, Master." The way she said that did things to him Haku wasn't quite ready to admit yet.

"I see you're wearing my gift. May I take that as a sign that you like it?" she cracked an eye open and grinned up at him.

"Why don't you get over here so I can show you just how much I like it…" he didn't need to be asked twice. Haku dropped to his knees beside her just as she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck to pull him down into a kiss. Their lips touched in a gentle greeting, which soon turned wild, desperate, their time apart having left them aching for each other's taste and touch. His hands ran over her shoulders, arms, her torso, seemingly trying to touch all of her, learn all of her, commit each curve, each detail to memory forever. Chihiro gasped and shivered beneath his touch, giving herself to him wholly and completely. Her hands wandered as well, touching his nape, fingers running through his hair, caressing his cheeks, resting on his lips as she told him stories with her eyes. Suddenly, all the hurry seemed to evaporate and their movements turned slow, sensual, unhurried. They learned each other, they made love to each other, they showered one another in kisses and soft touches that promised many more to come…

Chihiro couldn't help the content smile from coloring her lips as she watched the sunset, curled on Haku's chest.

"I could get used to this." Haku muttered making her giggle.

"Having sex in the gardens?" The Master of the Bathhouse laughed aloud at her boldness.

"Having you in my arms."

"I…" she started, but… Haku's shell started buzzing and with each passing second, the buzzing grew more and more urgent.

"GODSDAMN THESE BLOODY INTERRUPTIONS!" needless to say, the Master of the biggest Bathhouse in the Spirit World had lost his patience. As Chihiro buried her face in his chest with a groan, he stifled a sigh and put the shell to his ear. "Ya feel like dying..?"

/End of Part II/

A/N: any thoughts and comments would be more than appreciated ^.^