Heart Eater | Spirited Away

VIII.

魔女
witch

THE WALK TO YUBABA'S OFFICE was made easier with Haku astride her. Oddly enough, his company gave her some solace.

Chihiro tried to remember what she could about the old witch of the bathhouse, but it wasn't much.

Yubaba had turned her parents into pigs, and she had threatened to do the same to Chihiro. There was something of a memory of her enormous face crowding her own. A big blue dress. Gaudy rings. A crow.

Little else.

Chihiro fisted the fabric of her apron. "What do you think she wants?"

Haku didn't look at her. "A nice chat over cookies and milk, I'm sure."

Chihiro's lips twitched. Nearly laughed. Then remembered what she was doing right then and stopped quick. Tried to swallow down her nausea.

"Can you stay with me?" she asked quietly, suddenly shy.

Haku peered sideways at her, his green eyes softening minutely. He blinked. Looked away. "Yes."

Some measure of relief soothed the knot in her shoulders. They finished the walk in silence.

Haku was the one who knocked, a smart two raps of his knuckles on the red wood. The sound echoed.

Immediately, the door swung open on its own.

"Sen," a voice mused. It was said in the derogatory. "Back so soon?"

Yubaba stood behind her desk.

She had traded in her blue dress for burgundy — her violet eyeshadow for gold, but the same gaudy rings glittered on each finger.

She was just as enormous as she remembered, with a head the size of a torso.

"Heard your piggy parents kicked the bucket."

"Yubaba," Haku said warningly.

She smiled nastily. "So, you conned my son into writing you a contract," she said. "Well done."

"I didn't—"

Yubaba talked over her. "He set some... generous terms. We're going to renegotiate."

Chihiro blanched, spluttered a little. "No, I don't think..." she trailed off.

"It doesn't work like that, Yubaba, and you know it," Haku intoned drily.

The old witch's gaze flashed to his, and it was icy. She smiled testily. "Haku," she purred. "Perhaps you should step out. This doesn't concern you."

"You'd like that wouldn't you," he said.

Her lips curled. "Always the guard dog."

Unbothered, he folded his hands neatly at the small of his back. "The truth is, Chihiro doesn't have to renegotiate. She doesn't have to do anything. Her terms have already been agreed upon."

He shrugged. "Unless she wanted to nullify the contract and return to the human world, of course."

Chihiro shot him a withering look but straightened, trying to appear more confident and sure of herself. She nodded seriously, but still couldn't bring herself to meet Yubaba's eye.