Chapter Text
Ten years past and the bath house walls were still as bright red as Chihiro remembered.
But now it's intimidating size didn't scare her like it had all those years ago. On the contrary, she felt immediate relief as the sun set and the lights flicked on one by one behind the paper windows of it's numerous sliding doors. The golden decorations still did impress her and the green tiled roofs, after much deliberation, were still her favorite part of the structure.
She could hear the ferry crossing the river in the distance as she saw shadows move behind paper and glass windows and smelled the smoke coming out of the long chimney leading to the boiler room.
Aburaya would soon open it's doors and it would be time to get back to work.
Chihiro looked at the wide bridge before her, it's red railings now came up to her waist instead of her neck.
A twinge of disappointment went through her as she didn't see a boy, who would either tell her to leave or welcome her back, standing on the bridge.
The feeling soon disappeared when Chihiro told herself she would see him inside like the rest and without holding her breath she walked over the bridge.
Instead of avoiding the main entrance and climbing the side of the building on some rickety stairs like she did long ago, Chihiro headed for the main entrance, taking of her comfortable sneakers and socks before going in, not bothering to take them with her.
She would get new clothing tonight anyway.
It was busy in the halls of the enormous bath house. Hostesses and hosts were all running to and from the kitchen carrying trays with sake and breakfast for waking guests, toad faced cooks were banging pots and pans in the kitchen and cleaners were busy making sure the floors were spotless. A long line of rousry people was formed before the elevated desk of the foreman, all trying to get the best bath tokens before their customers would arrive.
But this sea of busy employees parted for her as Chihiro made her way to the first of the many elevators in the building.
A silence fell over the workers, they had all felt a strong presence heading towards their bath house paired with the foul stench of a human.
It's not like it hadn't happened before, humans sometimes ended up here when they were lost, they all remembered a certain human girl that once crossed their bridge and was protected by their resident river spirit.
But this human wasn't just any normal human, it had the noticeable presence of a priestess. Their type rarely stumbled into their world by accident, if at all, and most of them wouldn't venture to a place like Aburaya when they did decide to enter the world of kami.
So it was a first for the employees to have a priestess among them that seemed to harbor no ill will towards them. The employed spirits of the bath house were not considered to be the most evil of yokai, even if most were greedy and a little bit more than mischievous. Yet they could never be certain a priestess, and a human at that, wouldn't want to exorcise them with some Shinto ritual.
But than again, a priestess wouldn't come this deep into spirit territory to start vanquishing yokai and be killed by master Kohaku for even attempting to seal him away. No, that was not how a normal priestess would act, so it wasn't unexpected to see a familiar human cross the threshold of their workplace and walk around like they knew the place.
It was Sen, the clumsy girl that had earned them a fortune and had successfully bested Yubaaba at her own game.
She was different now, older, but age doesn't tell a spirit much when the ends and beginnings of years aren't that noticeable to them.
But she was older, that they knew with the length she now reached, the longer hair, the perceptive eyes and persistent look in them. What was telling to the bath house employees was the longbow and quiver filled with iron tipped arrows strapped to her back. The same items had been carried by those with the sacred power for centuries and were used to channel that power. It seemed their small, kind human had gone through some changes.
Chihiro's steps echoed through the silent halls, only the sound of running water and splashing oil accompanied the paces she took towards the elevator. She glanced through the crowd briefly, hopeful to catch a glimpse of dark green hair that bordered on black and deep green eyes that were stern but would only look at her with a softness she'd never experience anywhere else.
But alas, he wasn't there and Chihiro feared he might not be at Aburaya at all anymore. Still she persevered and reached the elevator, it would take her up to the second floor, then she would have to switch to a second elevator that would take her up to the top floor.
She pulled the lever and waited for the doors to open, all the while being stared and gawked at in silence. With, what seemed to be a loud, ding the doors opened and a group of hostesses came into view. They too stopped their gossiping behind opened fans and stared at her in disbelief as they slowly shuffled out of the small space and into the hallway.
Chihiro stayed right infront of the elevator doors, not moving an inch, causing the ladies to go around her.
If she was going to stay here, she'd better show she was as unmoving and stubborn as she was when she was younger.
With all the hostesses out the way, Chihiro stepped into the elevator and pulled at the lever once again.
A burst of cheers and hurried conversations could be heard from the other side of the door as they closed and Chihiro allowed herself to savor this moment of familiarity and sense of home as she touched the purple hair tie keeping her longer hair in a ponytail, after ten years it was still as brand new as the day it was made.
The ding of the elevator told her she was at the second floor of the bath house, the doors opened and it seemed word had traveled fast as people were already waiting to see for themselves if she really was back.
As Chihiro walked towards the second elevator she received welcome greetings and cheers but the familiar sound of someone calling out her name made her look back to see a young woman, appearing no older than Chihiro herself, in a pink uniform with a mock scowl on her face that soon gave way to a giant grin.
"What took you so long Sen!" Lin said as a ways of saying hello.
"Oh! Hey Lin." Chihiro smiled at Lin and the use of an old name, glad that the older girl had remembered her. They walked up to one another, Lin being quick to grab Chihiro into a quick hug, letting her go before rumor would spread she had gone soft now that her little sister was back.
"You've grown quite a bit haven't you? But seriously, Sen, what took so long and what is with this get-up? You some kind of priest or something?" Lin looked dismayed at the bow on her back and Chihiro couldn't exactly blame her.
But it was a long story, one Chihiro didn't have time for right now. How much she longed to just talk with her friend, Chihiro needed to deal with Yubaaba first.
" I will tell you later. I need to go speak with Yubaaba."
Lin frowned, Chihiro thought she hadn't changed a bit.
"What do you need to speak with Yubaaba about?"
The look Chihiro shot Lin made the employee think the worst, it seemed her former co-worker was going to be working with her again soon.
"Sen, you can't be serious!?" Lin gaped at her.
Chihiro looked away sheepishly, her hands fidgeting and a small embarrassed smile on her face.
Lin began to berate her but unlike ten years ago, the human girl wasn't going to blindly follow Lin's every order and cut her off.
" I want to stay and work."
The words every person working at Aburaya had once uttered to Yubaaba before she was obligated to give them a job position in the bath house. For alot of workers they were words they now regretted as they were most likely to be bound to this place forever, working here until the day their spirit would slowly start to fade out of existence.
Lin had almost gotten enough money to buy herself a train ticket and get away from this place but, this and that happened and now she was stuck at the bottom of the stairs again. Kamaji wasn't off any better, Lin knew, he had given his train tickets to Chihiro long ago and the old man had already given up on getting some again. He had told Lin that he had made peace with the deal he'd made with Yubaaba and but that Lin, while still young and persistent, should get out of here before this place started to feel too much like home.
But Lin never left, none of them ever truly left, not even Sen, a human, could escape the pull of the bath house.
And by the look in her eyes and the way she set her jaw, Lin knew she wasn't going to give up. It seemed little, clumsy Sen was still much the same but now she was even braver than before and it did Lin good to see that.
So the only thing Lin could do was stare at Chihiro dumbfounded as she turned and walked to the elevator, snapping out of it just before the doors opened.
"Don't make a deal you'll regret!" Lin called after her as the doors closed.
"I won't, thank you!" Chihiro yelled back as the doors closed and she went up to meet Yubaaba.