Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King and sadly enough, I never will.

Revised: 11/02/04

------

Miracle

------

One year had passed, and the memory was fresh. Three hundred and sixty five days had rolled by, yet she never forgot.

Never forgot the way her heart was thrown in the pits of despair.

Never forgot the fear of never seeing him smile again.

But she should have known better than to feel that way. He had always told her everything would work out, it would all be okay. No matter how hopeless the situation seemed at the time.

She still remembered the anxiety. Her heart was racing. She'd pushed her legs to the max. Her sandals pounded the ground furiously, her breathing was unsteady. Blonde hair swayed from side to side. But all that mattered was him. Reaching him. Making sure he was all right.

When she reached the summit, the stage of the Great Spirits, her eyes had widened, entire body frozen in place. Her worst nightmare: Yoh was gone. He had returned to the place – or rather, person – from which he came. Hao.

And the long-haired Asakura was smiling, lips turned upwards in a vile grin declaring victory. He had taken back his other half.

No... Yoh. You can't leave me.

Her thoughts plagued with the same phrases again and again. Gone. Don't go. Dead. Why?

Her voice acted of its own accord, and in her grief she let out a piercing scream that rang through the heavens.

"YOH!"

It hadn't been fair. It wasn't happening.

She wouldn't back down. She'd fight back. Grasping Yoh's trademark orange headphones, and placing them around her own neck, she prepared to seal Hao.

But the 1080 shattered as she attempted to do so. Their last hope of defeating the powerful millenia-old spirit...

Shattered, like her heart and at that moment, broken was her spirit.

She did break down then. She was defeated, mentally and emotionally.

She would never be able to watch him slack off again. Never to see him smile. Never to watch him doze off during class and reprimand him afterwards.

But one should never say never.

Just as suddenly as he had 'died', Yoh was revived. That carefree grin was once again slapped on his face as well.

She'd picked herself off the ground.

So miracles did happen, once in a while.

But why shouldn't he return to them? So what if his soul was originally a part of Hao? It didn't matter where he came from, only that this was where he belonged.

She had walked over to him, the calm mask once again plastered on her face. Inside, she was vivid with relief. Her hands removed the orange headphones from around her neck, and returned them to their rightful place atop his head.

"Welcome back," she'd said, staring at the ground from the corner of her eye.

"Y-yeah. I'm back," he had replied, with a happy, yet goofy, expression.

Yes, everything would be fine.

That day, one year ago, was the day of the tragedy, her worst nightmare. And at the same time, it was the day of the miracle.

A day she would never forget.

------

end.

------

Author's Note: So ends this short little one-shot. written in the time span of forty minutes at 11:20 P.M. It's been floating around in my head since this morning and I wanted to do something for 9-11. The 'she' is Anna, of course. I didn't feel the need to name her; maybe I'm just getting lazier.

So anyway, R&R please. Thanks!