Author's Note: Yes, witty title eh? ;D This is a nifty little fanfic I’m writing as a stress reliever, and because this idea really has possibilities. I would appreciate it if someone would point out any of my errors or mistakes, as I don’t want to screw up with this. :) This story was inspired from turning nonetheless’s ‘Convergence’, or at least one of the concepts used in it was. The opportunity to write a fic where Haku was forced to endure actual physical labour was too good to pass up. One thing to remember is that I shall refer to Haku’s real name not as ‘Kohaku River’, but the Japanese version of the name (which I cannot currently remember, but will search for when need be). I’m picky like that :)

The game ‘Shogi’ mentioned in this chapter actually exists- it’s a popular form of Japanese chess (sort of). I went on a limb and decided that the Spirit World had heard of it, even though I have no clue how far back it goes. I can only assume some human misplaced their Shogi board and pieces lol :) and ‘Sho Shogi’ also exists, and it is played basically the same way as modern Shogi, except for an extra piece known as a ‘drunk elephant’ :) Also, I have never played this (these?) board game(s), and if I made a mistake with how it’s (they’re) played let me know (which is why I left you hanging for most of the game lol).

Summary: After Chihiro breaks her contract, Haku tries to end his apprenticeship with Yubaba. But things aren’t as simple as they seem, and Chihiro becomes his only hope for freedom…

Original characters (however small a part they may have), the plot, and all related original subjects © Me (Don’t take them without permission!)

Spirited Away, Haku and all related non-original (as in, not made by myself) subjects © Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Disney and whoever else owns it.

Shogi and Sho Shogi © a few dead people I never knew. Very smart dead people though! (probably smarter then me…--)

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A SPECIAL THANKS TO: Umm…my cat, I guess, for…doing nothing?

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No Way Out

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Chapter One: Trapped

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Yubaba wasn’t happy- Then again, judging from the mess that Sen girl had caused, that wasn’t to surprising. She was alone in her office, gradually making her way through a ton of paperwork to give her frustrations an outlet. For the first time in her long, successful career, she’d lost a worker.

Oh sure, there had been the occasional case where a worker managed to find a loophole in her contract, but those were long ago and could be counted on one hand.

No one had ever managed to beat her at her own game, and the humiliation of the loss made her ill-tempered. There had to be some way to get Haku back for that loss, for surely an ignorant little human such as Chihiro couldn’t have done it on her own.

As if to echo her thoughts, she heard the doors slam open. There was the sound of sandals on stone, and then a certain dragon moved into view. Confident and without the respect (or, more accurately, tolerance), she instantly knew what his following words would be.

“Yubaba, I’m here to end my apprenticeship.”

“Oh you are, are you?” She smirked, appearing unshakable and in control; a direct contrast to how she really felt.

This was bad. Two loses in one day? Granted, she could always find a better, more willing apprentice, but it was the principle of the thing that annoyed her.

“Yes.” He said firmly, and Yubaba felt a flash of irritation at his supposed ‘arrogance’.

“Not so fast!” She finished signing her latest form with a flourish, and action that betrayed her conceit. “I want to give you one last test. If you pass, you get to leave. If not…well, I do need another worker to take Sen’s place.”

“There is nothing in my contract that says anything about ‘one last test’. I’ve got my name; I can go anytime I wish.” He replied coolly.

Yubaba laughed. “And I suppose you’ll just hop and skip over to Chihiro’s world? Surely even you know spirits can’t last more then a few hours there without some sort of anchor to this world?”

He tensed, having long ago tired of this game. “I’m going. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it.”

“Then by all means, go right ahead.” She gestured towards the door. ”But I happen to know of a way you could…avoid all that.”

Amused, Yubaba watched him carefully as Haku tried to resist the temptation to ask exactly what that ‘way’ would be. Unfortunately for him, Haku was just slightly too predictable for his own good; poor guy.

“How?” Yubaba grinned.

“If you complete my test, then I’ll tell you.” Surprisingly, she wasn’t lying- there was a way spirits could enter the human world, without any repercussions or consequences. But she didn’t intend to make the test anything but difficult, and most certainly designed to trap Haku into another contract of some sort.

There was a pause.

“Alright.”

Yubaba’s grin only widened.

“Good. But if you fail, I want you performing various…duties around the bathhouse.”

“I don’t care.” Haku said, barely able to rein in his irritation and impatience. Yubaba only smiled amusedly, as the traditional obedience lacking before was once again set into place.

“Very well…”

As if on cue, the enormous doors opened slowly with a groan. Haku watched them with an almost indifferent expression, as they slowly opened to reveal a Shogi board, complete with neatly arranged koma (board pieces).

“A board game?” He said, almost unable to hide his confusion.

She waved a finger at him. “Not just any set of board game, it’s an enchanted board game. You will be Black, I will be White.”

“Since when does the great Yubaba challenge people to Shogi?” Haku replied shrewdly.

Yubaba grinned. “You’ve outwitted me once; I was curious to see if you could do it again.”

Haku eyed her critically; certain there some sort of trickery was involved. She had mentioned it was enchanted, how could that come into play? Did she tamper with it?

She chuckled. “Oh come now, Haku, you know as well as I do how these tests and exchanges work. There are certain rules I have to abide by, and one of these is that every test must be balanced and fair. To break such a rule would be to forfeit whatever power I would have gained!”

“That’s true, but you have a reputation of manipulating things in your favour.” He answered, casting the innocent-looking Shogi board a suspicious look.

“Well, it is your decision.” She said loftily. “I have much better things to do with my time then entertain a lovesick dragon, so if you’d excuse me…” She turned to go.

“I’ll do it.” She stopped, and then flashed a rather victorious smile at him.

“I was hoping you would say that.”

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As it turned out, the only enchanted thing about the board was the pieces. They moved whenever gestured to do so, a rather curious feature that would have incited a laugh were it not for the situation.

Yubaba’s always trying to get something or someone to do things for her. He thought.

As the game went on, Haku noticed that he wasn’t doing very well. To put it simply, he had very little experience with board games, and that was quite a long time ago. Even though Yubaba was obviously the sort of person who practiced this in her spare time, she probably had a better understanding of the rules.

He gritted his teeth, and raked his memory for any sort of clue that could help him through this. But nothing came to mind. This only served to make him more desperate, and he made more and more mistakes.

Until finally…“Well Haku, it appears that I’ve won the game. You must have some idea what that means…”

“You tricked me.” He said, not able to hide the frustration he felt.

“I didn’t trick you. You entered that game of your own free will.” Yubaba smirked.

He closed his eyes, a brief look of helplessness flitting across his face. He’d failed, and now his only chance of ever seeing Chihiro was gone. “But how? I don’t remember Shogi ever being this difficult…”

She laughed. “Shogi? We weren’t playing Shogi!”

His eyes widened. “What?”

“You never did ask what we were playing!” She replied happily. “It was not the modern version of Shogi, but a variation known as Sho Shogi!”

“You see,” Yubaba began, “Sho Shogi is placed basically the same way as Shogi, except for an extra piece known as a ‘drunken elephant’, which acts as a second king! You never even noticed it!”

“Yubaba, you tricked me!” Haku said tersely.

“You never asked what the game was, you never asked what the rules were, you never even stopped to think about it! That’s fair- or, at least, not cheating.” She replied smugly.

But before the dragon could formulate an answer, a contract glided over from Yubaba’s desk, where it had been waiting since before he had come in.

“Sign it!” She snarled, her patronizing attitude gone. Haku glared at her, swiping a quill from the desk and quickly put down his full name.

And so, Kohakunushi Nigihayami once again found himself without his name.

And it could only get worse.

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Wow, you made it this far? I’m impressed. Well, as always, review please! It makes me happy, and when I’m happy I tend to write more. Next chapter shall not only be longer, but more detailed, since this is a half-hearted attempt executed less then an hour before I have to go to bed :)

Plus, if you’re interested in learning more about Shogi and Sho Shogi, just look it up on Wikipedia- that’s what I did