spirited away 2: Return to the spirit world

chapter 5 : the enraged customer

"Sen, I mean, Chihiro, wake up!"

"Don't have class today." Chihiro muttered, still more asleep than awake.

Lin sighed. It was Chihiro's first day back, not counting yesterday, and the girl was still exhausted from the previous night. She would have liked to let her sleep in, but Yubaba, even though she mellowed down, was still very strict.

Suddenly she got an idea. "Se-darn it-Chihiro, Haku is here." she whispered.

Chihiro sat up, wide-awake. "Huh! What? Where? How'd he get here? Where is he?" she rambled.

Lin chuckled. "Calm down, girl. I just said that to get you up."

This took a moment to sink in, once it did Chihiro's face fell and became both tired and annoyed. "Don't do that." She muttered as sleep began to take hold of her again.

She laid back down and pulled the covers over her head. Lin sighed again and decided to try a more direct approach. She grabbed the covers and pulled completely off the bed.

"Hey!" Chihiro cried as the warmth left her.

Lin just smirked at her. "Come on, we've got customers."

Chihiro pouted. "But Bôh kept me up late last night." She complained.

Lin shrugged. "Tell that to Yubaba."

Chihiro groaned. "Ok, I'm getting up."

As it turned out, the bathhouse was already full of customers. How long had she slept for things to get this busy so fast? She made a mental note to ask Lin what time the bathhouse opened later.

Yubaba was talking to the foreman, who was greeting customers while listening to the witch talk, when she spotted Chihiro come in.

"Sen, so nice of you to join us." She said sounding very grouchy.

Chihiro glared at her. "Well next time don't let Bôh keep me up so late." She fumed.

Yubaba snorted. "Well, do you need a review of how things work here, or do you still remember after 12 years?"

Chihiro continued to glare. She still remembered how things worked around here, having gotten the toughest jobs, but even if she didn't, she wouldn't give the old hag the satisfaction by asking for help

"I'll do fine." She insisted. "I'll ask Lin if I need any help."

Yubaba returned the glare. "That will do just fine. Oh, and by the way, thank you for increasing Bôh's curiosity last night. He had so many questions for me."

Chihiro couldn't help it, she burst out laughing. The foreman, having no idea what the two women were talking about, looked at them completely bewildered.

"I'm sorry." She said. "He asked and I thought it would be best if you told him."

"I wasn't planning on telling him!" Yubaba bellowed. "Someone that wants to remain a baby forever does not need to know things like that!"

Chihiro shrugged. "He may decide to change into a teenager for a while. He would need to know then."

"No, he won't, because he tried the whole teenager thing and decided to stay a baby!"

"Calm down." Said Chihiro. Neither of them noticed that people were staring at them. "Everyone needs 'The Talk' sooner or later."

The foreman's mouth dropped open. "Uh, ma'am, would you like me to leave?" he asked, or begged really.

Both Yubaba and Chihiro suddenly noticed that they were having this conversation in the middle of a crowded room and turned red with embarrassment.