Konnichiwa and all that good stuff~ So this chapter was kinda like the previous in the way that I had no idea what to put after 1600 words...and I'm impressed. It's now nearly 5k words. Longest chapter ever! Oh I'm so excited and pumped right now!

Enough of my ramblings(.) Enjoy! v

Shana slowly stirred awake, and after many attempts, she opened her eyes to be instantly confused. She looked around to see...well nothing really. Wherever she was it was pitch dark, and she couldn't see but a few feet in front of her.

She squinted her eyes, as if it was a puzzle game and if she just looked hard enough she would find the key to it, but there was just a lingering darkness that stared back at her. Just where the heck was she?

Shana looked down to see that the comfy bed she was laying on before was gone. No surprise really, but what did kinda take her back was that the floor wasn't some dark misty cloud that you usually would appear on when you dream. Rather it was a midnight black tiled floor, and quite shiny.

Okay...that still didn't rule out the possibility of this being just some weird dream. Somehow this place seems familiar though...like she's been here before.

Something about it gave her goosebumps, and they aren't the good kind.

"Hello?" Shana called out seeing if anyone was there. Of course in a movie, no matter what, you never ever call out something. It always turns out bad when you open your mouth.

That's what her instinct told her, to just shut her mouth, but for some reason it wouldn't stay in. Almost like someone else went in her body and spoke it against her will.

However her voice just echoed. Now she was starting to get the goosebumps again.

Anyone in her position would have every right to be scared right about now, but fear was something that Shana barely ever had felt. It's not rare, but it sure ain't common.

Seeing nothing else to do she got up on her feet and started aimlessly walking.

And walking...and walking. The only thing that really kept her going was the determination to find out what was going on. She was definitely going to get to the bottom of this, whether she liked it or not.

Shana walked a couple more feet, still looking around her to make sure no one made a sudden ambush, and wasn't paying attention to where she was going. Next thing she realized she was sitting on her now sore butt.

Must have tripped, she concluded. But on what?

She looked around to see nothing. What the heck? is the train of thought that was running through her mind as she made her way back up on her feet, but not before muttering some incoherent words.

Walking several yards she finally rested a bit. Shana looked around to gather any kind of bearings she could, but when she saw nothing had changed she heaved a heavy sigh and closed her eyes.

What was running through her mind is and may remain a mystery, but when she reopened them a sense of deja vu washed through her.

There in the far distance was a very dim light. She felt the scene to be all too familiar, but for some reason she couldn't quite put her finger on why.

By the time she reached the light she was basically crawling, trying to catch her breath at the same time.

About mmm...5 minutes later...

Shana was slightly annoyed, slightly perplexed and slightly hungry. However she was more spooked out than anything. At The sight in front of her.

There was a chandelier hanging there. The memories with Alice suddenly rushed back into the flame haze, and her eyes widened a little. So Alice is around somewhere.

She looked around, frantically searching for the quirky fox girl, but that head full of dirty blonde hair was nowhere in sight.

Shana looked back at the chandelier. Now that she remembered the meeting with Alice this entire scene is different.

Instead of the gold chandelier from before the one hanging in front of her was black and instead of light bulbs there were candles around the entire thing.

And something was new here. There was a table. A small round table along with two chair, and everything was, again, black. The scene was rather Gothic looking to her.

Shana, though being cautious about it, sat down on one of the chairs. She nearly jumped when the sound of mechanical wheels turning filled her ears. It was coming from the table.

She stared expectingly at the table waiting for something to spring out or along those lines. The flame haze arched a curious eyebrow when the center of the table started coming up. It stopped when it was about 5 inches out.

She stared at the thing, and it didn't make any more noises for a couple of minutes. She leaned back in her chair when the side of the...well it looked to be a block of black cement, a section of the side started to come towards her like a hand was being outreached.

Shana looked down on the top of it when the thing stopped right in front of her. There on top of it was a bright yellow lemon.

For an entire 3 minutes she gazed at it bewildered as to what she was supposed to do next. She could just stand up and walk away or pinch herself to wake up, but something told her a simple pinch wasn't going to do it.

If she walked away then she'll always wonder.

So she carefully picked up the lemon and stared at it. The lemon in her hand nearly fell when the black block sunk back into the table in less than 3 seconds, startling the flame haze.

She continued to stare at the yellow fruit in her hand. Now what was she to do?

Shana tossed in the air a couple of times, not failing to catch it once, and that's when she noted that the lemon seemed to be a lot lighter in weight than the one Alice tossed to her in the past. She then got suspicious about it. Why would this one be lighter? Was there something in the other one that she got from Alice?

She flicked the lemon a couple of times to see if her theory was right, and it proved so.

The lemon was hallow.

The flame haze split the fruit in two and was a bit taken back. It indeed didn't have any of the fruit part inside of it, rather it was just the soft shell.

But it wasn't completely empty. A small piece of paper drifted down from the lemon and landed gracefully on the table top. It was but 2 1/2 inches long and maybe 1/2 an inch wide, it was folded too.

She picked it up and opened it. There was a small message on the paper that read:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"

Shana didn't quite get it so she read it again and again and after the fifth time she reluctantly sighed in defeat, having no clue what the message had to do with her. She looked back at the table to receive another surprise.

There was a big red button and below it read; 'Wake up'.

"Finally" The flame haze muttered before pressing the button. She immediately felt dizzy and soon enough she blacked out as everything became fuzzy and dark.

****************************Shakugan no Shana*****************************

Shana awoke to see the familiarity of her bedroom. What'd you know the button wasn't a trap after all (AKA she just hit the button without giving it a second thought)

The shades were down but the sunlight still leaked in through the small openings as yet again the birds were chirping happily outside as if not having a care in the world but to keep singing.

The flame haze reviewed what just happened. So it was a dream after all. A little messed up at that.

She wanted to think about it a little longer but her stomach growled, wanting to be fed right away.

She quickly got out of bed, took a glance at the clock on the bed stand to see it read 1:13 pm, and then she set out for her tiny kitchen.

After heating up some instant ramen the flame haze plopped down on her couch and turned the T.V on. Nothing was really on, but she wasn't paying attention anyway. Her mind was focused on that dream, well it's more like it's between a dream and a nightmare, and on the message.

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' Shana recited in her head over and over. She vaguely knew what it meant, kinda like if your aiming for a job and it seems like a thousand miles away the only way to get there is to start walking, and that begins with a single step, but what she couldn't grasp was how did that affect her? It wasn't like she was going to get a job.

After slurping down all of the ramen she grabbed some clothes and got into the shower. She was thinking about going out.

She was out the door 10 minutes later.

Shana walked through a shopping district, occasionally stopping to look at something in the window.

After some time she saw a cosplay store. In her dream from the coma she went to one and it wasn't half bad, in fact it was kinda fun to try on the many different outfits and she wasn't much of an otaku.

Intending to have a little fun she went in.

It was about an hour and a half later when Shana tried on the last of the cosplays that she liked and she was heading out the door when something to her right caught her eye. She looked over toward the dressing rooms to see Yoshida talking to one of the workers.

Once the conversation was over the brown haired girl looked a little disappointed. Wait...What was she doing here? The flame haze quickly turned to face the front door leading out to the beautiful sunny day and started to quietly escape. She didn't have any reason either to be here except for a little fun, but still it would be slightly embarrassing to be caught in this place. Since Yoshida knew the flame haze wasn't a fan of the cosplay life.

Shana was just one step from the door as she reached her hand out to push it open, her hand was mere centimeters away...

"Shana!" Kazumi called out to said girl, waving her hand. The flame haze lightly sighed. 'So close...' and then she looked back at the door '..yet so far'

Yoshida made her way over to Shana. "Konnichiwa Shana, what are you doing here?"

The flame haze tried to think up a reason and when nothing came to her; "Nothing..really.." Her answer being very vague. She quickly spoke again once she saw Yoshida about to say something (thinking she was going to say something about Shana's answer)

"What are you doing here? The flame haze inquired suspiciously, although she wasn't expecting the result.

Kazumi blushed. She started to slightly fidget with the strap of her purse, and didn't keep eye contact very long. "N-Nothing!" The girl quickly responded, and then started to wave her arms in front of her in a crossing motion kinda defensively.

This reaction instantly perked Shana's curiosity, however she dropped it for now since the brown haired girl immediately started to speak no more than a minute after as her stomach made a very audible growl. The girl's blush slightly darkened.

"Ah Gomen, I guess I'm a little hungry" Yoshida felt a tad embarrassed by her stomach's loud noises, and for the fact that Shana had giggled when she heard it. Her and said girl headed out the door. "What about you?"

The weather outside was absolutely perfect. The sun was high in the sky, the birds were out singing their hello's and it was very warm out, but there was a nice cool breeze blowing which made the temperature outside very enjoyable and comfortable.

"Now that you mention it I am a bit hungry" The flame haze said once they were out of the shop. She had been having the munchies before but now when she felt her stomach she realized the empty feeling.

"There's a cute little cafe around the corner" Kazumi suggested.

Shana nodded her head with a smile, a cafe did sound really good. With that the two girls headed straight to Cafe Aristo.

Yoshida and Shana told the waiter their order and then once he left the two started chatting. Nothing in particular really- school, a little fashion, what's been going on lately...yea there really wasn't anything in particular they were discussing, more like a bit of everything.

Eventually the food finally arrived and they started eating. Not more than 5 minutes after they did Yoshida's cell started beeping. She grabbed it from her purse and flipped it open to see a new message from Ike come in.

Once she was done reading it her eyes were noticeably wider; with excitement. She, as lady like and as politely as possible, shoved a couple more bites of her food in her mouth before tossing her phone back in the purse then picking it up and started dragging the flame haze out of the cafe, but before doing so she left money for the bill on the table.

"H-Hey wait!" Shana demanded as she was dragged out the door, not happy at all with the sudden action. Yoshida, knowing whats good for her, let go of the girl as they passed by a bench.

"Where are you trying to take me?" The flame haze asked slightly suspicious, and a bit taken aback at how strong Yoshida grip was. She would have never guessed that sweetly nice girl would actually be capable of a rather deadly grip. It was not much compared to her own however. She felt herself being a little stereotypic about the girl having a weak grip.

Yoshida's smile reached from ear to ear as she put her index finger right in front of her lips. "It's a secret"

Shana raised an eyebrow but said nothing, following Yoshida now.

Along the way - or apparently when they were coming closer to the secret- Kazumi couldn't contain her excitement and ended up spilling the beans.

The so called, but not anymore, secret was a movie. It was a show about a boy and a girl slowly falling in love, and it had a lot of cliche stuff in it. (well you get the idea...just call it a chick flick if you want)

It just came out and was overly popular so tickets were extremely hard to get...which is why Yoshida was so excited from the message. Ike had finally scored enough tickets for the group to go and watch.

By group; Yoshida, Ike, Shana, Yuji, Ogata, and Tanaka. Plus Satou was coming too except he was seeing a horror film in another theater room. He was very bored but when they told him what they got tickets to he immediately replied saying he was not that bored that he would watch a chick flick.

The three remaining guys weren't so thrilled about seeing it but Yoshida and Ogata talked them into going. The flame haze may be a girl but she wasn't all so crazy about chick flicks and those kind of movies, this one, from the previews anyway, looked to be decent so she didn't mind going and watching it with everybody.

*****************************Shakugan no Shana*****************************

The two girls arrived at the theater just in time. After spotting the rest they all made their way to the snack counter.

"I'm sorry but we only have three popcorn bags left" The boy, about 15, hesitantly said after the group had ordered 6 popcorns, one for everybody.

"That's not going to be enough.." Ogata pointed out a little worried.

"You all don't mind sharing, right?" Ike looked back at everyone and his tone made it sound like 'sharing' wouldn't be a big deal, but his face showed skepticism. They all nodded after a couple of moments while Satou had already gotten a drink from another cashier and was in his theater room.

They purchased the popcorn, and thankfully the person had enough cups for the soft drinks to go around. In the room they went.

The group found only 4 seats available that were right next to each other, and after much debating, Yoshida, Ike and Ogata, Tanaka sat in them while Shana and Yuji were looking for 2 side-by-side seats for the both.

Only 30 minutes of the 2-hour long movie went by and the flame haze along with the other girls were absorbed into the movie already, and Yuji's popcorn was half gone, even though he only got one handful out of it the entire time. Shana really couldn't help it though, Yoshia had pulled her out of the cafe when she had barely eaten her food and ever since they got to the theater she's been starving. He didn't mind, actually he found it somewhat amusing to see her so into a movie like this.

Yuji focused his attention back onto the big screen before she caught him staring.

30 minutes later...

The girls were getting more engrossed in the show by the second...along with Ike, who was trying to hide it but slightly failing.

Yuji was a little more involved in it too. He knew what was going on...vaguely, but it just didn't interest him the way it did with everyone else in the dark room. He and Shana finally found two seats next to each other in the very top left corner, right next to the wall.

He stared at the screen while reaching his hand into the popcorn bag to his right - which was between him and Shana -, his face twisted in confusion as he felt something really soft in the bag. He turned his head to the right and his eyes widen as the blood started rushing up to his cheeks.

Shana didn't know why but she just couldn't take her eyes away from the movie. At some parts she wanted to shout at the girl to 'stay away from him' or along those lines, but that would be way to embarrassing so she kept it down with much force.

With her eyes still glued to the screen she reached into the popcorn bag to grab some of the yellow puffs of pooped corn when she saw something happening in the movie and her whole body froze. The girl ran away from the boy and he chased after her until he grabbed her hand stopping her on a bridge while the rain poured down on the scene.

Shana was so content in watching that she barely noticed something against her hand in the popcorn bag. She looked to her left and her eyes widened while a dark blush graced her cheeks.

Her face was mere inches from Yuji's as their hands were covering one another in the bag.

They stayed in that position gazing into each others eyes, knowing they should move or this would look pretty bad if their friends saw them but yet neither really wanted to move away. Shana unconsciously started to lean forward, momentarily forgetting that Yuji wasn't her boyfriend anymore(since he was before but only in a dream).

In the background the boy was slowly leaning in toward the girl. He was so close when the girl slapped him on the cheek and then turned away. Ogata had jumped up from her seat along with a couple of other females in back of her and they all yelled to the screen, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? KISS HIM!"

The sudden outburst caused some of the other people in the theater room to cringe at how high pitched the girls were. However the yelling brought Shana back down to earth and when she realized what she was about to do she quickly turned away, leaning slightly to her right, blushing furiously. Yuji, for the most part, did the same.

For the rest of the movie the flame haze couldn't look at the screen without glancing over at the boy next to her so she resigned into staring at the wall next to her.

At the end of the movie a lot of the girls were crying(not sad tears mind you) including Yoshida and Ike was comforting her outside the theater room while Ogata was grinning and Tanaka looked as though he just woke up from a nightmare. Shana and Yuji refused to make eye contact.

"That was a really great movie" Yoshida commented between sniffles as she wiped her eyes to rid of the tear drops. Ike smiled as if agreeing.

"It was!" The dark brown haired girl agreed too, and Tanaka just made a 'Hn' sound which received an elbow straight to the gut from your's truly- Ogata. The grin was soon right back on her face just as fast as it had disappeared.

She was about to start going off on Tanaka when she noticed the flame haze and Yuji's weird behavior.

"Are you guys okay?" Ogata asked her voice laced with concern. She immediately raised a curious eyebrow when her voice seemed to have brought them back down to earth from whatever planet they were on since the two slightly jumped when she started talking to them. Now everyone's attention was drawn to the two.

"I'm fine" The duo said, it would have been in perfect unison if their voice's were on the same tone. Yuji's voice was slightly higher pitched which usually meant he was lying or was nervous while Shana's response sounded distant and somewhat passive.

Ogata shrugged and was about to walk back to the other, who were now focusing on something else, when she saw something that the two apparently weren't able to hide very well. She saw faint blushes on both their faces.

Her previously concerned frown turned into a Cheshire cat grin, and was about to blow the whole situation out of proportions when Shana beat her to it as she started talking.

"Well...I have to go now. See you guys tomorrow" She bid her goodbye as she briskly walked to the exit, she turned around and waved with a forced smile then turned and left. Yuji soon left after her before Ogata could chew any information out of him. Said girl watched them go their separate ways and she went back to the others, but the grin never left.

The rest of the group questioned her as to why Shana and Yuji disappeared but she just told them that they had a headache and went back home.

They all reluctantly didn't ask any more questions.

*************************Shakugan no Shana*********************************

It was not until about midnight did Shana feel tired enough to go to bed. Once she changed and did the nightly routine, she slid under the covers of her bed.

However it wasn't as she had hoped; she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened.

She was about to kiss him! Of course she done a lot of that in her coma but it had to be a different sensation from the real world or else she would have done it without a second thought...but that's kind of what did happen except she came to her senses before anything made contact...but yet she blushed when- Oh screw this!

She nearly kissed him, end of story.

Shana sighed as she laid on her back looking up at the emotionless white ceiling. They had finally become an item in her dream and now that she woke up she's back to square one. It seems like a thousand miles away to her. It would tak-*Click*

It clicked. She abruptly sat up with her left hand flat, palm up while her right hand was fisted and was on top of the other hand. It finally clicked!

'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step' The message finally made sense. It was never about some job it was about her! Not having something to do with her like a job.

Her way into his heart seems like a journey of a thousand miles but the only way to get there is to start walking, beginning with that single step forward. Like what happened at the theater earlier.

The flame haze couldn't help but let a small smile sneak its way on her lips. She finally solved the riddle(that's what it felt like to her).

Shana let out a hearty chuckle before laying back down and going to sleep. 'Just leave it to Alice to come up with a fortune lemon'

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OMG! That was one of my longest chapters yet! Sweet ('v')

In reference to the last line; You'kno like fortune cookie, but instead the fortune was in a lemon therefore making it a fortune lemon? Lol xD

I hope it was good! Also I realized that my chapters for the story might be close, just barely, at or over 3k words EACH! But I want to make sure you guys pay close attention to that 'might' in the sentence.

I could barely finish the scene in the theater because it sounded SO CLICHE to me x\ But for the sake of the story and chapter I did it. Yay for me :)

Sayonara until the next chapter! ;D

Oh and don't forget to review onegai!