A/N: I'm back with another Ann/Akira fic because these two are precious and I can't not write them. Also, also, maybe leave a comment or review with thoughts and maybe fic requests?

A light blonde, blue eyed woman - she looked to be 23, perhaps - ran on a treadmill, teal eyes locked on the mirror in front of her. Sweat coated her, yet she kept running, music blasting in her ears as she drowned out anything that wasn't the feel of her feet hitting the treadmill. Anything that wasn't the song playing in her earbuds.

Why was she doing this, again? She focused on the pounding of her feet on the treadmill, not the swarm of thoughts and memories from only an hour previous.

"You're so ugly."

"How is she even a model?"

"What a whore, posing like that."

"She should die."
"You're the reason I have trust issues."

"I bet the only reason she has a fiance is that she's so airheaded she'll do anything he wants."

"I heard she hooked up with a teacher in high school."

"I bet she really is bullying poor, poor, Mika."

"How dare she, after everything our poor Mika-chan has been subjected to."

"I heard she's friends with Rise-chan. I bet it's all just an act."

These were comments on an article on a gossip site. The article was named "Ann Bullying Mika!? An Inside Look At The Abuse Mika Suffers."

She had ground her teeth throughout the article, loathing Mika for even having the notion of sending her this. "How dare I, after what she's been through? What has she been through? Oh, right, my bad." Mika had been subjected to this so-called "bullying" all of her modeling career, and Ann was the newest bully.

Her manager called her, wanting to schedule a press conference for her. She hung up after he had uttered the words. No way in hell was she going to retaliate. No way in hell was she using something as serious as bullying as "media attention." What type of person did her manager think she was?

She turned her phone onto airplane mode, got her headphones out, and headed for the gym. She needed to get out of this for a minute. She needed to go in with a level head. And so she ran to the gym.

Akira Kurusu was going frantic looking for his future wife. Her manager had called informing him of the article, and the press conference he had suggested. Akira had sighed, explaining that Ann would never agree to that, as she wasn't that type of person. Said manager sighed back and asked Akira to find his fiancee. This was pointless, as Akira was already locking the door behind him and heading to the spots she used to get away from stress. Often, she came straight home, but that wasn't the case, so he walked all over the bustling city they lived in, trying to find her.

Which led to where he was now. The only spot he hadn't checked yet was the gym, but she never went there unless something had really gotten to her. Over the years of them being together, he had come to be able to read his future wife like a book, and she could do the same to him. She wasn't answering her phone. Stepping into the gym, he spotted her and walked over to her slowly.

Ann nearly fell to the treadmill in shock as Akira walked in. She knew she'd be found, but he had scared her, appearing like that. She slowed the treadmill until it came to be still, and took off her headphones. She turned around and stepped off the treadmill. He kissed her sweaty forehead and said, "Go get changed, alright? We'll talk when you're done."

She nodded, tears already forming in her eyes. She shouldn't be upset. Those gossip rags have no idea who they're talking about. They don't know her, just the image they project of her in the media. They haven't seen Panther; her true self. They've seen Ann, a hopeless romantic who was once a damsel in distress.

That wasn't her. It would never, ever be her again. She vowed that it wouldn't. And yet, here she was again. Tears of frustration built up in her eyes, but they never fell over her face. She pinched her thigh to stop them. How many times had she had to do that in these past few months?

The walk home was silent. Ann fought to hold back tears. Akira intertwined his hand with hers, playing with her thumb to distract her. They got home, changed into their night clothes (which was a T-shirt and shorts for both of them) and laid down on the bed they shared. Ann was laying flat on her back, and Akira rested on his elbow next to her, looking at her with soft, concerned eyes.

"What happened?" He asked softly. Ann began to cry, rattling off the details of what happened. He listened quietly, wiping away the stream of her tears with his thumb. When she had finally finished, he grabbed his phone and took a look at the article and comments. His lips thinned, expression becoming angry. But, his expression changed to a smirk when he realized something.

Throwing his phone down on the bed, he looked back at Ann who was watching him. "I just noticed," she said in a scratchy voice, "you're not wearing your glasses today."

"I decided I could forgo the style today," he answered easily, his head dropping to the pillow. "C'mon, let's get some sleep, okay? You'll need it for tomorrow." The blonde nodded, closing her eyes. "It'll all get better soon." He murmured to her, watching as she fell asleep.

As she did, he carefully got up and grabbed his phone, heading to their balcony. Leaning over the railing, he looked down at the people milling around below and smirked. The may not officially be a phantom thief anymore, but he could still change hearts if need be. Especially if that need was to protect Ann.

"Hey, Futaba? I know it's late, but can I ask you for a favor?"

When Ann awoke the next morning, she spotted the roses on her bedside table. It was a vase of them, and they were all crimson red. She sniffed them and smiled. Of course he would get roses for her. There was a note on the table. "Rise-san is meeting you at the spa for a girls day, or at least that's how she phrased it. She heard about the article. Have fun!"

Smiling widely now (although she had flinched at the mention of the article), she changed quickly into a ruffled top and jean shorts with wedges. She looked good in them, she had to admit.

Damn her modeling habits.

When she got to the spa - that her, Makoto, Haru, Rise, Rise's friends, Yukari-san, Mitsuru-san, and Futaba frequented - (when they could pull the orange-haired girl out of the house, anyway), she asked for Rise and was met with a smile and a guide back to the area where the baths were. Rise was sighing in bliss, relaxing into the warm and fragrant water. Ann joined her fellow star, relaxing into the water as well. Her muscles were sore from running so hard yesterday, and the water rejuvenated them. The girls were similar, although, in contrast to Ann's bright blonde hair, Rise had copper hair that she had grown out longer than it had been in high-school. Rise also had brown eyes, contrasting with Ann's bright blue ones. Although, they both had the same skin and nearly the same body shape. Leaning over into Rise's ear, she shouted; "Boo!"

Rise fell over, fully submerging herself in the water. She popped back up seconds later, giggling. "I invite you out, and this is what I get?" She joked. Ann laughed. "Oh please, it's not like you don't do it to me."

"Fine, fine." Rise conceded, pouting now. She settled back into the water. "But seriously, how are you doing?"

Ann bit her lip. "I'm….fine." She managed.

"Nice try," Rise said flippantly. "I know you better than that."

Ann sighed, looking at the wall opposite her as she sunk even lower into the water. "I was upset. Really upset. Especially at the comments they made. It was like that in my first year of high school. Well, except for the bullying rumors." The blonde woman sighed. "Which are completely ridiculous. Mika's been through nothing except being vain!" Anger was beginning to bubble beneath the surface of her sadness. "She's just like Kamoshida….and I am not being used or harassed like that ever again." She finished, seething now.

"Why didn't you agree to the press conference, then?" Rise asked.

"We both know I can't fight back. She's got me trapped."

"At least, she thinks she does." Rise pointed out, smiling.

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on Ann, do you really expect Akira-san to leave this be?"

A blush coated the younger girl's cheeks. "Well, um…"

"I've heard about your friend, Futaba." An innocent smile was in place now, although Ann could practically feel the devil's horns that Rise had so carefully stored away to the public sprouting. "She could ruin anyone's life at any time."

Ann sighed. "You're right, but I don't think he'd take it that far…"

"Of course he would. Something tells me that you two have had a chance encounter or two with her and that he doesn't like her." Rise guessed. "And he'd ruin anyone if it meant keeping you happy."

"But?"

"But Akira-san isn't that type of man, and he knows you are not that type of woman. All he's going to ask Futaba to do is see if she can pull up some messages that will prove she's lying about you bullying her. It also provides justice to the other victims. It's just like them having a 'change of heart.'"

"That will ruin her though, Rise...you and I both know how brutal the media is."

"It won't ruin her if you forgive her. Tell the public she should be able to apologize for her actions. She might stay afloat, and even if she does level accusations at someone else, it won't be looked at the same why it is now."

Ann sighed. "Those guys have got this all figured out, they?"

"Of course. I don't think any of the other phantom thieves would let you go down so easily, would they?"

"You're never going to stop bringing that up, are you?"

"Would I be me if I didn't?" Rise giggled.

Ann laughed and relaxed into the water, glad for this break.

When she and Rise finally retired from the spa, she was in a white blouse, jean shorts, sandals, and a big sunhat, a blue ribbon wrapping around the white sun hat and matching her hair. Akira was waiting outside for them, hands in the pockets of his jeans. He wore jeans, a plain black t-shirt, and a white button-up, unbuttoned and exposing the black t-shirt.

Rise gave Ann a shove and a smile. Ann looked back at the woman as Akira steered her away, wondering if she had been on it the whole time.

She supposed she didn't need to ponder it now, did she?

She leaned into Akira's side, asking where they were headed.

He smirked down at her. "You'll see."

They ended up heading to a forest, stopping in front of a fire pit. He told her to sit on the logs and gave her a pen and notecards. She looked up at him. "What's this?"

"I want you to write every bad word, every insult, every anything that you've been hurt by, and we're going to burn it."

"Burn it?"

"I'm starting a fire, and then we'll burn the cards." He said casually, getting out what he needed to start the fire.

"Why?" She asked, genuinely confused.

He paused, looking at the dirt below him. "Well, my dad and I used to do this on trips all the time. He said that if I could take the insults and burn them, it'd be like saying 'you can't get to me anymore. I win.'" He was smiling now. "I thought it'd take you a couple years back, you still haven't trained your heart very much, have you?"

When she was silent, he looked at her, a bit surprised and tentative. "If you don't want to that's fine, I just thought it would be-" Akira was cut off when Ann stood, making her way over to him and bending down to give him a long, lasting kiss. When they broke apart, she caught her breath and asked him something.

"You still remember the 'heart training?'" She asked, laughing now.

He idly played with her hair, looking her straight in the eye. "Of course. It was when I fell in love with you."

Ann giggled, pressing her lips back to his for a second. She pulled away before it could get too long of a kiss, and bent back up. "Let's do it."

The blonde walked over and sat on the log while Akira lit the fire. She recalled every time she had been wounded, wanted to cry, and so on. By the time she was done, she had a pile of cards at her side, most that were recent insults.

When she looked up, the fire was burning brightly, and Akira was watching it, satisfied. He sat next to her, intertwining her hand with his. She threw one insult after the other into the fire, watching them burn and the smoke disappear. Her heart seemed to feel lighter and lighter every time she did so.

They stayed and watched the fire until it died. By then it was dark and late. Ann yawned, resting her head on her fiance's shoulder. Akira chuckled, gently guiding her through the woods.

If I've got him, everything will be just fine.