riverguardian
Haku watched her go. Slowly, almost sluggishly so, he too stepped out of the elevator and walked behind her. Just as he said he would. He could not tell her that he would or wouldn’t see her later in their day. He couldn’t do anything like that. Even if he wanted to, which he did, he knew better than to let Yubaba or one of her henchmen know of his connection to the human girl. That she was receiving help from him. He had to be subtle about it.
He would let her rest during the next few days before coming to see her again he decided. That way she could save up her energy and get a good amount of proper sleep. She was still a young girl. And sleep was important for a growing body. Though he knew if she stayed in the spirit world for any longer than she had to, then her growth would pretty much stop.
Time wasn’t measured the same way in the spirit world as it was in the human world. There were no months, no years, no seasons to tell someone that it was a different day, different month. It was all the same day in and day out: summer.
As Haku watched Chihiro vanish down the stairs that would take her to the little meeting hall he had taken her to that first night he stopped at the foot of the first step and peered down. He could easily see her little form, but that was all he could do which was watch over the small child
As soon as Chihiro got to her room, she crouched down gently on her bed and rocked back and forth, keeping her eyes on the floor as tears squeezed out of them. The child wrapped her arms around her knees and continued to rock in an effort to calm herself down. Haku and Lin and the boiler man were the only ones she could count on, but when she was alone loneliness overwhelmed her greatly and she found herself crying when those feelings arose. But she also had to be strong for herself and the others. “I can do it,” she whispered to herself as she sat back and got under the covers. Going to sleep was easy as she was very tired. It was a long night and she slept through it all without having any bad dreams. When she woke up, she quickly got dressed and ran downstairs as fast as she could while tying her hair back. “Ha- I mean. Master Haku? Are you around? What should I do today,” she asked as she peered around for him. Was he with Yubaba? Chihiro doubted he was still asleep because he most likely got up before the other workers did. “Is he upstairs? I can’t go up there....” But it was worth a try as she tried to ascend the stairs, but then she stopped. No. It was best to avoid going up to where Yubaba was. Instead, seh went to the board and grabbed her red tab with her name on it. When she read it, she quickly hurried to one of the tubs to clean them.
