SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO RETURNS

The Journey Begin's

Chihiro and Shigeru sat and waited on the train tracks underneath the bridge, trying to get their bearings on the situation and to plan ahead, little did Lin know Chihiro took what she said about that folktale seriously, so Zeniba's house is only a quick stop for them, an information stakeout.

"What if Zeniba doesn't know anything about it? How are we going to search for this guy with just the knowledge of the folktale...?" she asks Shigeru who was keeping an eye and ear out for the train in case it decides to give us a surprise visit. Shigeru who was now in his large Fox form suddenly closed his large golden eyes as if he was deep in thought. Chihiro suddenly notices that his fur has almost completely grown back and the scares he has are now hidden under a thick coat of white, suddenly his eyes open.

"If that happens we will have to look elsewhere for information, some of the ancient spirits might be able to help us since most would be even older than Zeniba is...I know of a few of them and where they live, one of them helped raise me when I was little...she is like a grandmother to me. I dare say she would be the most likely to willingly tell us anything, some of the ancients don't like humans and are very powerful so we should try to avoid as many hateful spirits as possible...most won't be as merciful as I am... So anyway, that will be the best alternative plan we have so far on finding out more about this guy" he explains telepathically.

Chihiro nods "got it," she says agreeing to his well-thought plan but then sighs sadly "I...never got to talk to Haku about this...I didn't get to confess to him...he's probably going to get here and have a heart attack..." she says.

"Probably but you heard Lin, she said she will explain everything to him so it will be fine, if he's really that worried he will probably look for you, to either take you back to the human world immediately or to come with us to protect you, either way...you will get your chance don't worry" Shigeru says comforting her.

As if on cue Lins voice rang from above, we turn to look up at her who was now quickly climbing down the rocks like we did earlier, well technically she climbed and Shigeru just jumped. Lin had a big cloth bag of food wrapped around her neck as she climbed carefully to not spill anything, finally reaching the ground she turns and takes off the cloth filled with food to kneel down to tighten the knot so the food doesn't escape and throws it at us from the other side of the water.

"Here catch!!" Lin yells out.

Chihiro was barely able to catch it without tripping over herself and she could hear Shigeru and Lin laughs and glares at them then sticks her tongue at them, and then sighs tieing the loose part of the cloth of food around her wrist so she didn't lose it,

Lin's voice rang out again but was more serious this time "you be careful you hear me Chihiro, I will not lose a sister in this life, got it?" she says pleading to her.

Chihiro looks up to see worry and fear on Lins' face "don't worry I will, I promise..." she says as she mounts on Shigeru's large yet surprisingly comfortable back. She waves as Shigeru takes off and could hear Lin yell out once more from behind them.

"You protect her you hear me, Fox!! If anything happens to that girl your in big trouble!!" Lin says her voice going quieter until eventually, she heard nothing, just heavy breathing and the sound of Shigerus paws hitting against the tracks. Chihiro looks back at the bathhouse and watches it as it gets smaller and further away until there was no sight of it.

~1 hour later~

Chihiro who has fallen asleep on Shigeru's back was suddenly awoken from a low growl in her stomach, all this stress was making her hungry, she could feel Shigeru chuckle from under her and looking up at her in amusement.