Spirited away 2

Chapter Eleven:

Suddenly the spirit stood straight in the tub showing off his new image; his body was different now. It's body was now strong, muscular even and the color of his skin was now changed; no longer did he appear to be covered in dried and dead grass, now is body was blackened and burned, glowing cracks covered his body; smoky fire flowed evenly from the top of his head representing hair. Steam pooled off of his body as the small traces of water from the tub was steadily being burned off by his body heat. The spirit breathed deeply, smoke came from his nose when he breathed out; he turned to Chihiro after a moment.

"The pain is gone." he sounded as though he was attempting to speak softly, but his voice was now much deeper and much more powerful than it was before so he failed miserably. "My anger is gone as well, it all was lost during the final stages of my transformation; human I cannot thank you enough. You lessened my pain enough for me to finish my first eruption" The new volcano spirit spoke again before nodding his head at her in thanks.

"You're not going to have to go through that every time are you?" Chihiro asked while looking up into his glowing red eyes. "And I'm happy to be of help; I'm glad I could lessen your pain even if it was just a little." Chihiro bowed her head, trying to ignore the new pain in her back and stomach that she had gotten from being hit earlier; there wasn't a doubt in her mind that her back and stomach were horribly bruised.

"Of course not, the pain I had gone through was only due to my transformation; now that I have been reborn, there should be no issues. I thank you for your concern." The spirit watched her for a moment before nodding to himself; it seemed as though he was contemplating something.

"I'm glad that you are okay Sir." she said loudly while continuing to bow; now that she had bent over, Chihiro didn't particularly want to stand straight again.

"I have a gift for you; a reward for your bravery, and part in my transformation.-" the spirit paused when Chihiro let out an almost silent groan as she tried to stand straight again. The events of him backhanding her floated through his mind and guilt covered his being. "But before that, please allow me to heal the wounds you obtained while assisting me."

Without another word the spirit reached out and hovered his massive hand above her head; without Chihiro's understanding, a beam of light streamed down, covering her entire body; wrapping her in warm heat. One that unknowingly healed all of her wounds; all her burns, her scratches, and the large bruises on her back and stomach, everything healed without leaving so much as a scar.

"There, it is done." he paused watching the peaceful smile on Chihiro's face as the red light began to leave her. "Now for your reward."

Chihiro waved her arms madly, trying to deny his request to give her a reward. "No no, that isn't necessary." but before she could deny anymore, she was mesmerized by the flame on his head suddenly becoming brighter. Silence followed as the spirit reached up towards the new opening on the very top of his head; a bright red stone began to emerge from his flaming hair and the spirit grabbed a hold of it tightly extinguishing the flames. Chihiro stood silently watching amazed as his large hand once again came back to reach in front of her. He held his massive stone hand out to her with the red stone sitting in the middle of it; he was offering it to her, and was waiting for her to take it.

Chihiro was hesitant in reaching out for it; after all, the stone had just came out of the mouth of a volcano. She smiled nervously up at him after a moment of silence; she didn't want to be rude and not take it, but she was afraid.

"Don't worry young one, the stone is not hot; I just healed your wounds, I wouldn't intently harm you." The spirit chuckled slightly watching as she slowly reached forwards and slid both of her hands underneath of it; picking it up in a scooping manor. The red stone was much too big and heavy for Chihiro to pick up with one hand. She thought it was absolutely beautiful, the stone was a see through red color; it reminded her of a ruby, but she knew that it definitely wasn't that common gem. It was a shade of red she had never seen before; Chihiro fell in love with it immediately.

"This is beautiful, are you sure you want to give it to me?" She didn't have much experience with being given gifts; after returning from the spirit world she had a hard time connecting with people; her parents were the only ones to give her a gift and even then it was something limited; something small.

"You've earned it, you were the only one who showed me kindness in the worst of my transformation; you were very brave for a human." The spirit seemed to smile in his own way before he began to walk through the exit, ignoring the group of workers and Yubaba. Chihiro watched as he went, realizing that the gem in her hands had the same comforting heat that the spirit's healing beam had given her; maybe it had the same properties as his beam did? It intrigued her to no end.