Prettyinpinkgal: And we are approaching the climax of Spirited Around. We're nearing the end! Although I started this chapter prior to watching the series, I must admit that this chapter reminded me quite a bit of Puella Magi Madoka Magica. XD

Disclaimer: I don't own "Spirited Away". Grandfather, Mikori, Mikuru, and Nokori are my own creations.

SPIRITED AROUND

CHAPTER NINE: STORM CLOUDS

Mikuru played with her cell phone. Yes, her texts to Chihiro had all successfully sent, according to the little green checkmark. So why wasn't she getting back to her?

There had always been something mysterious about her that she couldn't entirely understand. It wasn't like in manga, where there seemed to be some deep, dark secret that haunted a character. Somehow it felt different. It wasn't something that plagued Chihiro, Mikuru didn't think; it was more like there was just something part of her that wasn't part of other people. Something special.

Was that Something pulling her friend away from her? On her day back at school, Chihiro had seemed determined to keep everything a secret. Mikuru could handle this. Despite the cliche "Friends Tell Each Other Everything", she was well aware of the fact that some things people need to work out by themselves. But her concern was growing. She was certain something was wrong. Would those boys tell her what Chihiro wouldn't?

Her blue eyes, inherited from her English father, grew with determined as she brushed her hair that morning. "Mom, I'm heading to Chihiro's for a bit," she called sloppily, as she was holding a ribbon with her teeth.

"Oh, tell her how sorry I am for what happened to her father! I'm planning on going to see Ogino-san next week. Just come back soon, Mi. It looks like a storm's coming."

"'Kay."

Mikuru tied her hair back into a ponytail and nodded once. "Sorry, Chihiro, but I can't just sit here wondering anymore."

She went to the door and opened it, but was almost smacked by it in the nose. The wind played with her skirt embarrassingly, and she made sure to keep one hand holding it down at all times. The sky was a dark grey, and it was rolling in quickly.

"This is going to be one heck of a storm," she murmured. Louder, she called, "I'm heading out!"

Within a moment of walking, however, the wind ripped her ribbon from her hair and tossed it into the darkening oblivion.

SPIRITED AWAY

Chihiro lay on her side, watching the trees lash each other with their branches. The windowpane rattled irritably, and she wondered if it might cave and rain glass upon the room.

Grandpa-Furukawa-was making his move. She could feel it. This was no ordinary storm. This was the beginning of the main war. All the other battles were mere skirmishes till now.

"Haku?" she murmured.

"Yes?"

She knew it. He was keeping an eye on her. "Sorry I made you worry. I'm okay now."

"You're not okay, but you will be."

She believed that now. "Yeah." Flipping over, she smiled slightly at him. "Yeah."

A hand was lifted up and hesitantly laid on her cheek. Chihiro felt his thumb feel the tearstains that still lingered on her skin. Her eyes closed, enjoying the warmth his hand brought.

"Where's Nokori?" she asked.

"He's helping Mikori come up with a battle plan."

"I should get down there soon." She didn't move an inch.

"Don't. We all need a rest, you especially. We need you at your best." The hand withdrew. Chihiro secretly lamented its loss. "Who's there?" he called.

It was then that Chihiro's eyes opened again. Now that she was focusing, she felt someone there as well. She wasn't afraid though. There was nothing malevolent about the presence.

After a moment, timid footsteps were heard. The door slid to the side, and in walked Mikuru.

Out of everyone and everything Chihiro had been prepared to see, finding her best friend standing before her caught her off guard. "Uh, hi."

Chihiro blinked a few times. "Hi." Tentatively, she formed a smile. "Did you come to drag me to a shoe sale? I think we should wait till the weather clears up, though."

"Yeah, it's awful out there. I felt like that American actress all the way here?"

"Who?"

"The one with the hand over her dress."

"Marilyn Monroe."

Chihiro turned to face him, her expression a mix of disturbance and amazement. "Haku, how the heck did you know that?"

"My...old house had a lot of secondhand stuff from...other places."

The bathhouse had seemed rather old-fashioned. The idea of Yubaba having a hidden room chock full of posters of actors and actresses came into her mind and tickled her immensely. "Oh gosh. That is...freaking hilarious..." She struggled against her laughter, while Haku looked slightly insulted.

"It's not like we can just go to one of your convenience stores any time we want," he grumbled.

"Ahem!"

The two turned back to face the schoolgirl, who stood their awkwardly. "I need to talk with you Chihiro. Very much."

"Couldn't you text me?"

"I did. A lot."

Chihiro's mind flickered back to all the times she had either been without her phone, turned it off, or pressed the "Read Later" button. "Oh. Sorry. I've been...busy."

Mikuru's face was somber. "I thought so."

Haku piped up. "Should I leave you ladies alone?"

Chihiro thought about it, knowing that Mikuru was fine with whatever she decided. "No. You can stay."

She had never seen her best friend so serious in her time knowing her. Mikuru was always the silly, girly one who appeared like a ninja in her bedroom without her parents ever knowing she had entered the house, ready to give Chihiro a spur-of-the-moment makeover. She knew about the sales, who was with whom, what anime were worth watching that season, and which hot guys at school were conveniently single. Of course, she was also sensitive and compassionate, and this behavior was never more evident than it was now.

Which probably meant that she was suspecting something was up.

Well, did she ever expect to fully get away with being an average girl around Mikuru? Not exactly. When they had class events like haunted hikes towards shrines, Chihiro never even bothered to pretend that she was frightened. She was always the one done with class duty the quickest, as she was now an expert cleaner. She befriended everyone, no matter how strangely they looked or acted, and if something needed to be said, Chihiro was the one to say it. On a more petty level, Chihiro refused to eat pig. But there was, in many ways, something incredibly mature about her, too. Chihiro knew all this, and knew that they were not the most condemning evidence. However, there was also that whole "falling asleep business" before she took off for the spirit world a second time, and the mysterious way she had been acting when her father had died so recently. Mikuru, despite the stereotypical rut one could fall into when looking at a girl dressed in all the latest fashions, was perceptive and smart. She could at least figure out by now that something not quite normal was happening with her.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Chihiro asked, after taking a couple of deep breaths.

Haku was still seated (a bit uncomfortably now, it must be noted) next to Chihiro, so Mikuru sat on the other side of her friend. "I...I feel really rude just springing this on you. Maybe it's nothing. I know everyone has secrets, but...Chihiro, you bring to school some random boys-"

Ah. Chihiro had forgotten that particular piece of evidence.

"You seem to know them well, that one boy is your adoptive brother all of a sudden..."

"Well, we never signed any paperwork or anything, so not officially, but yeah, that's the gist of it..."

"You disappear for a little bit, you...I don't know, Chihiro-chan, but something just feels different about you, moreso lately than any other time in the past few years I've known you. I just...wanted to see if you needed any help, or if there's anything I can do. Even just talking it out with someone other than those involved in the situation might help."

Chihiro's stomach tightened with guilt. She could see Mikuru was on the verge of tears now, and she realized that her secretive nature had done a number on her friend.

"You might not believe me," Chihiro began, glancing at Haku. He nodded, taking her hand. "I...I have something to tell you, and it's pretty shocking..."

"Oh my gosh, you two aren't engaged, are you?"

This...threw them through a loop, to say the least. "Huh?" the two said together.

"You two are holding hands and everything, saying, 'I've got some big news!' That's what people engaged do, isn't it? Is that one of your secrets?"

Immediately, the hands whipped apart. "Oh my gosh, of course not!" Chihiro cried, her face dark red like a cherry. "That's...Haku's involved in the situation I'm involved in, but not in the way you're thinking! Even though..."

"Even though you're not completely adverse to the idea?" Mikuru prompted, genuinely curious.

"That's...!" Chihiro glanced at Haku again, noticing that a hand was rubbing his forehead. "You! Leave! Right now!"

"Uh, will do..." With no further prompting, the embarrassed spirit immediately hopped to his feet and quickly walked out the door, sliding the door closed with a bit of extra force.

"So you haven't told him yet?" Mikuru inquired, now looking slightly guilty.

Chihiro gritted her teeth. "No, I haven't told him yet. I was waiting to tell him until later..."

"Oh. Well, unless he was too wrapped up in the 'engagement' thing to notice, at least he knows now."

"I hate you so much!" Chihiro screamed, hitting her with the nearest available object, which luckily happened to be a pillow.

Mikuru's expression became quite incensed, and she leapt to her feet, grabbing a pillow as well. "I'm not overly fond of you either, right now!"

Wham!

"I haven't told Takeshi-kun or Suguhara-san that you took secret pictures of them on your cell phone!"

Wham wham!

"That would've been way worse than what I just did! I did you a favor! Now you don't have to tell him yourself! Wait a second, how did you know about those pics?"

"Stupid! You lent me your phone one day when you had those pictures as your background! Are you insinuating that I'm a snoop?"

Whamwhamfwoosh!

A little bit of feathers came out of one.

"You better not tell them!"

"Tell them what, that you're a perv and a stalker?"

Chihiro's bedroom door slid open, and Nokori stood there staring.

"He's the pervert!" Mikuru protested, mistaking (or perhaps not) Nokori's open-mouthed stare for something less than appropriate.

With pillows aimed at his direction, he quickly cried, "Sorry!" and shut the door.

With a common foe gone, the girls faced each other again. "Anyway!" Mikuru shouted. "I have more reason to be mad than you do! You've treated me like crap for a while now, and I'm sick of it! I'm not just some random girl that helps you with your hair! I'm your friend!"

"And what would you have done if I told you anything? Nothing! You wouldn't have been able to do a thing!"

It was the truth, and as it often does, it hurt like heck. Immediately, Mikuru's enraged expression was replaced with a striken one, and Chihiro's own indignation subsided.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you," Chihiro said, setting her slightly-damaged pillow down. "I was just trying to ignore my own guilt. Sorry."

"It's true, though, isn't it?" Mikuru asked slightly, sinking down onto the bed. "It's something I can't help with?"

"No. In fact, it would've just been burdening you with needless worry," Chihiro replied honestly, sitting next to her.

"Still, I want to know."

This drove Chihiro to say what she herself hated to admit. "As childish and stupid as this sounds, I don't want you to think that I'm a freak. Or that I'm crazy."

"But those boys, they know, don't they?"

"Yeah, but it's different."

"How?"

Chihiro smiled wryly. "They're the ones driving me crazy."

Mikuru smiled slightly, but it was still sad.

There was no getting out of this. It was confession time.

Chihiro grabbed an old card that once wrapped around a bouquet of flowers. "It all started with a going-away present from one of my childhood friends..."

SPIRITED AWAY

Aburaya was oddly quiet. Few customers had come in, as a great flood had for once completely shut down the use of the train and any other means of transportation to the bathhouse. Lin and the others gazed out the window with growing trepidition.

"I thought things were getting better for a little bit," Lin confessed.

"This is no ordinary storm," Yubaba muttered, confirming their suspicions. "I suppose this means Chihiro failed."

The bathhouse erupted with protests, causing the old manager to cover her ears irritably.

"You can't mean that!"

"Chihiro's fine! She'll pull through!"

"Haven't you heard the expression, 'It's always darkest before the dawn?' It just means the evil thingy out there is getting ready to fight for real! That means Chihiro is really giving him the one-two!" This came from Aogaeru, the frog.

"That's right, Mama!" Here Bo cut in. "Chihiro's smart! She'll win! She won against you, didn't she?"

A series of "That's right!"s made Yubaba cringe. "Shut it!" she yelled. More softly, she muttered, "Don't remind me."

"She'll be fine."

Everyone calmed down and glanced at each other, confused as to who was speaking. Their eyes fell upon a shadow on the floor which suddenly grew upwards and became...

"Another Yubaba?"

"Dear heavens, NOW what do we do?"

"Shut it, you weasels! That's my sister Zeniba!"

Zeniba smiled, slightly goading as she said, "I've been existing here quietly for some time. You've only just now realized it, dear sister?"

"Oh, I could smell you a mile away," came Yubaba's sulky and untrue reply.

Turning towards the shaking windows, Zeniba's eyes narrowed. "I'm sure Chihiro will be fine. But we must do our part too. Yubaba, put those powers of yours to good. We might as well work together for once in our lives."

Under this new leadership, the others sprang into action. Sootballs gathered, ready to ambush the enemy. Kamaji grabbed some old samurai blades, holding them in each of his hands. This left very little left over to use in terms of weaponry, so many settled for garden hoes, mops, buckets, and whatever else they could find.

If Chihiro was out there still fighting, then they had to, too.

The clouds darkened outside, and the rain beat down all the more heavily.