Spirited Away 2: Return to The Spirit World

Chihiro's Decision & Haku's Tale

Yubaba was furious. How dare her best employee just leave without permission or telling anyone where she was going! Yubaba may not own her anymore since Chihiro remembered her name, but she was still her boss.

"Where could she have gone?" she wondered out loud. "She's not in the area; I would have been able to sense her if she was. She couldn't have returned to the human world yet since the gate hasn't been opened. So where did she go?"

Haku was really worried. What could have happened to her? He would never forgive himself if she was harmed in any way. Humans tended to do stupid things when they were angry or upset, and he had really upset her. He mentally kicked himself for the thousandth time.

"Oh no!" Lin cried. "What if a spirit that hates humans did something to her?"

Haku felt his insides freeze. Why did she have to say something like that? If spirits were capable of having heart attacks, Haku thought he might have had one.

"Don't be ridiculous." Yubaba snapped impatiently. "I'm sure we would have been made aware of something like that happening."

Lin glared at the old witch. "Oh, nice to know that you care." She said sarcastically.

Haku was still trying to calm his racing heart. The thought of a spirit harming Chihiro in anyway scared and angered him more than anything he ever felt. Although he and Chihiro weren't together, he was feeling his dragon instincts coming forth with the need to protect its mate, even though she wasn't. He would tear anyone that tried to hurt her limb from limb.

Yubaba continued pacing back and forth. "She must have run off again. Although, I have no idea where or why. She just had a vacation."

She stopped pacing and started thinking back to the last time the human had been in her office to see her son. The girl had seemed a little... out of it. She turned to Lin and Haku. Where they involved with Chihiro's behavior? Why else would they need to talk to her so desperately?

"Haku, Lin, would you have any idea why Chihiro would suddenly feel the need to run off?" she asked.

The answer was written on their guilty faces. "We had a... disagreement yesterday." Lin confessed. "It didn't go so well and she's a little mad at us."

Yubaba sat down again, sighing. "Well, that would explain her behavior. Ah, humans are so strange. But where would she go? She hasn't been anywhere else in this world besides the bathhouse, Haku's river, and my sis..." Yubaba trailed off as she realized what Chihiro had done. "Of course. The girl has gone to see Zeniba. Her so-called Granny. Great, just great."

Haku and Lin looked at each other. Of course, Zeniba. It was the only other place Chihiro would go to.

"But how would she get there?" Lin asked no one in particular.

Yubaba tapped her chin. "How did she get there last time? I know Haku brought her back, but I'm sure she didn't get there the same way."

"She took the train last time." Haku explained. "Kamajii gave her some tickets he'd been saving."

Yubaba's eyes narrowed. "Oh, he did, did he? I wondered about that. Well since the boiler man doesn't know where she is, I believe it's safe to say that she didn't get more tickets from him. And besides the train, how else could a human get there? Where would she get the tic-"

Yubaba suddenly stopped talking. For a moment she looked at a loss for words, but then she shook it off, laughing. "No, she couldn't have. She wouldn't. She better not have." The old witch opened one of the drawers and gasped. "SHE DID!"

Yubaba's teeth clenched together tightly in her anger and smoke began seeping through the space between her teeth. Haku and Lin didn't know what the problem was, but whatever Chihiro did, it must have been bad to make the witch this angry.