Spirited away 2

Chapter Five:

As Chihiro was walking away from the bewildered ignorant dinosaur man she started thinking of what she was going to do now that she wasn't disappearing. She knew she wasn't out of the woods yet, she had to get a job or Yubaba would most likely turn her into some type of animal, or a lump of coal or something she really didn't want to be. Something no one would want to be if they had a choice in the matter. Now that Chihiro was really thinking about it she never thought of a plan for if she actually did return, she had given up hope so long ago that it was never really something she had to do. Concluding that she absolutely did need to meet with Yubaba, she started heading off in the direction that the Bathhouse was in. Yubaba would already know that she was here so there was no reason for her to try and hide. Whether the old woman recognized her not probably didn't matter; well now that she thought over it she knew it did matter. If Yubaba didn't realize that Chihiro was her old worker, then she would probably be treated the way she was when she first arrived which, in her opinion, wouldn't be so bad. However on the other hand if Yubaba did recognize her, then she had something to worry about considering they hadn't parted in the best of terms when they had last seen each other.

Taking a deep breath, Chihiro shook her head trying to shake away the worry that was starting to build in her mind; she was in the spirit world, she had done the impossible, she knew she could face the old bat and win.  Soon the bathhouse came into view, she smiled when the over whelming feeling of coming home took over her senses. She closed her eyes momentarily thinking of all the faces she would finally get to see again, until her smile vanished; what if she wouldn't be accepted back? She paused before shaking her head aggressively; there was only one way to find out. 

When she refocused Chihiro was standing on the edge of the bridge; other spirits were constantly passing her and complaining of her holding up traffic, but she ignored them as memories of her first encounter of this bridge ran through her mind. Last time she had crossed this bridge she tried to be completely invisible to the surrounding spirits with Haku, she had almost made it across the bridge but a Bathhouse keeper, who happened to be a talking frog, startled her and she gasped. When she had gasped she broke Haku's spell and she was fully visible to anyone and everyone on or around the bridge. 

A smile took hold of Chihiro's face as she remembered how scared she had been, she truly felt grown up and mature now that she was standing back in the world that had changed her forever. She took a deep breath, inhaling some of the clean smelling perfumes of the Bathhouse, afterwards she smiled and exhaled loudly. She was ready to return. With that in mind Chihiro confidently started to walk across the bridge without an issue, ignoring all of the negative comments the surrounding spirits had to say. Once across the bridge she made her way into the bathhouse, being a little more skeptical and careful as she navigated through the crowd. She didn't want to be turned away by the bathhouse staff before she could be recognized or before she could at least meet Yubaba. 

Weaving through the crowd she eventually made her way to the front desk where she came face to face with a unfamiliar foremen, she was happy to be back in the bathhouse, but she did feel a little awkward just standing in the crowd of spirits. The confidence she had felt was still flowing through her veins, but she wasn't very comfortable either. Personally she was trying to ignore all the comments on her smell and was hiding behind a large spirit who didn't seem to mind her very much. It reminded her of the radish spirit who had helped her through the bathhouse before when Lin had left her on her own. This spirit was large, its body was a light green color, one that really caught her eyes since she was always using primarily blues, and greens back in class. 

"Hello, welcome, please enjoy yourself!" the frog looking man greeted every customer with a smile resting on his face. He smiled and waved wildly trying to give as much of an enthusiastic greeting as possible. She smiled at his greeting, but only felt exposed with the large green spirit moved and the foremen locked his eyes on her.