SPIRITED AWAY: CHIHIRO RETURNS

Reaching the Canyon

Shigeru P.O.V

'This has got to be the most awkward day I've ever had...' Shigeru thinks to himself trying to ignore the obvious tension within the confines of the barrier as Haku flew, the only thing protecting them from a reoccurrence of yesterday...

Shigeru couldn't get what he witnessed out of his mind and it frustrated him in so many ways, he wished he could forget. He felt defeated as if he had already lost before even fully trying, the only thing close to good that came from it was the certain view he saw, aka, Chihiro. Shaking his head he tried to clear his mind, he had to keep focus on finding the canyon, even though it's seeming to be impossible since they have been searching for half a day already, the only thing close to interesting that happened was a few minor attacks, but after the demons realized they could not break through the barrier they flew away and gave up, it was a sturdy barrier he will give the lizard that.

'Tsk, if he could manage a barrier as strong as this why the hell didn't he use a cloaking spell last night for god's sake! I was forced to witness...such things...' he thinks to himself jealousy and anger taking over him, then a stabbing pain shoots through his heart...he could feel it breaking, he could tell she was happy, and he wants her to be happy, however, seeing that secretly destroyed him...does he really have no chance with her? 

He glances at her from behind, she hasn't said one sentence to him, she was trying to keep her distance carefully, only giving him a small smile whenever they accidentally look at each other. He could tell this was as awkward for her as it was for him, suddenly, Chihiro for the first time today spoke up.

"Guys look! up ahead! it looks like a dry desert! could it be over there?!" she says.

He looks out to where she was gesturing to, it was a barren desert, devoid of any life, mainly just sand, rock and a few dead trees that have struggled to survive the harsh heat and lack of vegetation. Suddenly Kohaku turned and started flying towards it, despite it being a desert, it was not hot what so ever, in fact, it was freezing and foggy...which was pretty unnatural and creepy, a further distance away from it you could just barely see more mountains in the distance.

Suddenly the Lizard was in his head again "I think its best that you start getting rest for tonight fox, I have a feeling that we are almost there, can you feel it? The dark magic? Chihiro is definitely onto something here, so rest, I am plenty capable of protecting my own mate" Haku states seriously.

He couldn't help but glare at the dragon, he hated his sneaky plan to separate him from Chihiro, however, at the same time it made sense, he needed rest in order to restore his spiritual energy as much as possible. Sighing he looks to Chi and see's her looking at him with a weird look on her face it made him worry, she looked sad and unsure, even almost looks guilty.

"Goodnight Chi, be careful okay if there is any trouble wake me," he says to her smiling softly, even tho, in reality, he was a complete mess.

"Goodnight Shigeru...and about last night...I'm so sorry we didn't mean to..." not wanting to hear anymore he cuts her off.

"It's fine. I mean, I'm happy for you, this is what you wanted isn't it? I'm glad things are working out for you, just...next time do it in better privacy..." he explains to her trying to hide the pain that he was feeling "ahem, anyways I should get some sleep, I'm out" he says as he lays as comfortable as he could manage on the Lizards back and closes his eyes hoping that sleep could save him the awkward atmosphere that pained him to the core.

Chihiro P.O.V

She could feel Shigeru's eyes pierce her back behind her, she couldn't help but feel a little bad for her dear fox friend, she knew how he felt about her and he saw her and haku...together, in that way...the atmosphere was so awkward and uncomfortable that it was hard to concentrate, the only one not giving a damn was Haku. She knew he didn't like the fox, but surely he's embarrassed too right? the last thing she wanted was to hurt the Shigeru's feelings, but for some reason, she could barely talk to the poor guy, the most she can do is smile...suddenly something caught her eyes...