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When he first saw her, he didn’t know what to expect. He had never seen a young girl around the bathhouse, let alone someone around his age. She was quite small and petite, with her messy brown ponytail sticking out in some directions and her strange striped t-shirt with salmon shorts.
He noticed that she smelled as sweet as flowers but also smelled like something else. Humans. He didn’t know what compelled him to do it, but he suddenly started shouting at the girl to run and get out of here. It wasn’t safe for her to be there when the spirits came out and the small town awakened.
Master Haku thought she had left, and thought she was safe. He was wrong. The girl had crouched into a small corner and was fading away fast. He unknowingly wrapped his arm around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. She turned around and looked so scared, so vulnerable that it almost made Haku feel like his heart was about to burst out of his chest.
He tried to convince her that he was on her side. Tried to convince her that he wouldn’t lay a finger on her with ill intentions and that he would always protect her no matter what. At first she was hesitant, swiping her see through arms through him and him practically having to shove the berry into her mouth in order for her to eat it, but eventually she began to trust him.
Her hand was so small and soft compared to his larger, more calloused one and he couldn’t help but gently smile at her big brown eyes and innocent gaze. She was beautiful.
He shielded her from Yububa’s spies, pretending to not notice the fact that he was practically hugging her and was very close to her so much that the two of them seemed to squeeze together. He tried his very hardest not to notice her blushing.
Pulling her along with him, they both ran through the spirit ridden streets, trying to not be seen by any passersby. They finally arrived outside of the gates of the bathhouse, trying not to show their anxiousness or fear.
He told her to hold her breath, told her to not worry, and tried his best to stay calm. They walked together in sync as they walked towards the entrance. They would’ve made it if it weren’t for that annoying frog fellow who hadn't appeared and startled them.
Using his quick instincts, he flew under the lady slugs greeting the bathhouse visitors and managed to hide with her in the gardens. He tried comforting her, telling her that she did her very best, that it wasn’t her fault.
Her eyes were glistening with uncertainty and fear as he told her that she’d have to make it through the bathhouse on her own. She begged him to stay with her, pleading that she wouldn’t be alone.
But they both knew what the answer was. He instructed her gently about what to do, head to the boiler room, ask the boiler man Kamaji for a job. These were pretty simple instructions but he knew it would be difficult for her after everything she’d been through that night.
When he was about to leave, she asked how he knew her name. He thought for a moment before coming up with an answer. Where had he seen her before? A memory suddenly bubbled to the surface. A pink shoe, a river, a little girl with chestnut hair, rosy cheeks, and eyes brimming with wonder. A name.
When he came to Yububa’s office, he expected to see Yububa annoyed and reluctantly handing her a contract in order for her to be a fully employed worker like all the others. What he didn’t expect was to see Yububa’s office in shambles with paper and jewels littered around and various items being crunched and broken.
Luckily she was safe and all right, mostly. Her hair was more tangled and messier, her legs were covered in bruises, and she seemed to be trembling more than usual.
He felt a pit form in his stomach as he realized what he had to do next. When she turned around at the sound of his voice, her expression changed, eyes widening with surprise. For no longer was he the sweet, gentle boy who helped her and comforted her, but rather the cold and unfeeling henchman of Yububa’s bidding.
When he asked for her name it no longer was the name that made the music in the world seem so empty to the sheer sound of her beautiful voice nor was it the one that made falling petals seem so uncomfortable to the sight of her innocent face. Sen…
He didn’t smile. Didn’t have a warm caring glow in his eyes. He was emotionless, stern, cold. When they both went in the elevator, he told her not to talk to him and to call him master, the formal name that the bathhouse employees always used.
When he told the others that she would be working with them, they were all disgusted at the prospect of working with a human, having to endure its gross scent (which in his opinion was very rude because in his opinion, she smelled very sweet) and most of them didn’t even want her to be in the same room with her.
He snapped at them about how her smell would go away if she ate for a couple of days and that if she didn’t work hard they could roast her, boil her, do whatever they wanted.
When the words came out, his stomach twisted with disgust and anger about what he said. He didn’t actually want them to hurt her, he would kill anyone who laid a hand on her in an ill mannered way.
He kept thinking about this as the sun came up again and the fog had finally settled around the bathhouse. He carefully snuck into the female workers quarters, trying his hardest to not accidentally step on a limb and slip past them.
He told her to come with him to see her parents, who had just turned into pigs only a day earlier. He couldn’t forget the teary eyed look on her face and she fought back tears and bit her lip so hard that a small streak of blood dripped down her chin.
She screamed furiously that she was going to save them, for them not to worry, and not to get any bigger or else they would be slaughtered.
He stood there stunned as she ran away wiping her tears furiously from her eyes as she collapsed to the ground. He didn’t push her, didn’t say anything, just let her sit there for a few moments before handing her back her old clothes. He comforted her as she fretted about almost forgetting her name, smiling for the first time in years as he told her how remembered her name.
He let her cry and let her be scared. He watched her go and leave as he stayed there by the gardens. He still kept thinking about her as he went off to do his master’s missions, and always ended up coming back just to see her.
They did everything together, strolls through the halls without anyone looking, teasing each other, going to the gardens, and the occasional visit to the boiler room just to play cards with Kamaji, he felt himself feeling alive more than ever.
He no longer was the cold, cruel, master Haku who barked out orders to the bathhouse employees and who did Yububa’s dark bidding, he was the sweet, gentle boy who was Chihiro’s friend, who was good and kind to his close friends. He was just… Haku.
Haku would’ve never expected dying so young for a spirit his age, but then again, he never expected to be bleeding out on the floor in his dragon form. How could he have been so stupid? Doing a dangerous errand just so he could escape Yububa’s wrath. Guilt clawed at the back of his long throat.
He deserved this. After all the terrible things he’d done, the effort he’d put to prove to himself that he was still good, he was going to die.
His vision blurred with thick salty tears running down his scales. This was all his fault, he was going to leave her all alone and there was nothing he could do about it.
His friends…. His name…. Sen- no….. Chi-…
SMASH!!!!!!!! A loud noise startled him and he heard yelling and heads rolling. Small arms wrapped around his neck and he felt a soft face bury its face in his mane. Could it be?…
Haku could only hear muffled voices but his instincts told that he needed to leave, escape somehow. Only when he heard Chihiro’s terrified scream did he decide to leave right away. He felt weightless for a few moments before finally regaining consciousness and flying before blacking out again.