Disclaimer: All respective rights/ownership go to their rightful owners. I claim no ownership besides any OC. I only wish to write a story :d.

The world is full of hardships. Every day we face something new and challenging. Sometimes we deal with these without ever noticing the hardship. Sometimes the hardship puts a massive burden on you, but you can only fight and strive to get through it all, no matter how hard it is. Although, all hardships are unique in the form they take. Some are physical, of which can cause huge stress on your body. Some are mental, which can tax the mental capacity of a person. No matter what form the hardship takes, it always will come to the outcome that the person under this weight: Will go through some sort of change to their being.

The same cou- no, is applicable to Kasumi here as she holds my hands and gazes at me pleadingly. I'm not exactly sure what led her to start doing this whole proposal thing, but it changed her a lot. And sadly, me too.

We used to be quite the pair together in school. She was the new kid from Leanbox who of course looked nothing from Lastation. So obviously the other kids would stay away from her. Her golden blonde hair was so easy pick out in the sea of dark that is Lastation that it was hard not to notice her. I never understood why the other kids would avoid her, she tried to fit in, but it just didn't work. Instead they'd either tease her or just straight up ignore her. Maybe it was her higher grades or beauty? Was it the foreign outlook? Or was it just a dislike for the new kid. Regardless, she became a lonely person. No one would play with her, eat with her, or even talk to her.

That was until I approached her.

All of my friends told me not to. That just getting near her was bad. I didn't understand why they thought that, and I wanted to. I wanted to understand why everyone disliked the blonde haired girl. I wanted to see what the local pariah was like, to fully understand why we all avoided her. To understand why I should avoid her, more specifically.

And at first I did understand. She was a mean and rude girl. She never responded to me and usually told me to buzz off. My friends saw how she treated me and kept telling me to just avoid her as well. But I decided to stick my ground and keep trying. The rude trend continued and I was very close to giving up and never even as so much glance at her ever again until she invited me to eat lunch with her. I'm not sure how or why, but Kasumi invited me to eat lunch with her. Maybe it was my constant trying to be around her, her being lonely, pitying me, or something else. I'll likely never know why she invited me to eat with her, but it was the most life changing lunch breaks I'd ever had in my life.

I learned so much about her. How her father is from Lastation and mother from Leanbox, which explains her appearance. How her father and mother decided to move to Lastation. How she left many friends behind. The time she's been having here (horrible just an fyi) and generally just how different from the person I was made to believe she was. Of course I didn't find out all this from one lunch together, but there was one solid outcome from the followed lunches and increased time I'd spend with Kasumi would result in.

I'd lost all my friends.

For a kid my age this was completely heart breaking. I thought that I could keep my friends while spending time with Kasumi and hopefully teach everyone that she wasn't as bad as she was made out to be, but I quickly learned that wasn't the case. I'd apparently "caught" whatever they thought Kasumi had and effectively kicked me out of the group. And of course with them kicking me out, the rest of the school pretty much did too. It was so sudden, one day I was an accepted member of the school body and the next I was kicked out. Kasumi had apologized to me the second she found out and even told me that we could stop hanging out if I wanted to, but I told her not to worry about it. I was the one who sought her out and after learning about her, I only wanted to keep her company. She had been so lonely in Lastation up until I came into her life, that I didn't want to leave her. Who knows just what she'd do if her only friend just up and left her suddenly? I wouldn't like that, so I couldn't and wouldn't do it to her either. It effectively became my silent promise to her: not to leave her alone.

From there, we continued our school life as the now "normal" for us. We'd talk and play together often. We'd get bullied sometimes but according to Kasumi, the bullying lessened in its degree when I started to be around her. I have to wonder just what they did to her before me coming into her life, since now they only said harsh words and were clearly jealous of her grades (she was top of the class). When I asked, she only would say she's thankful that I came into her life and that was that.

This trend continued until freshman year of high school. It would just be me and Kasumi, talking, hanging out, and eating together. It likely would have stayed as such until my friends came back. Our usual days was broken when my old friend's approached me with their apologies. They didn't quite understand why they had sent me away at first and as such had been thinking about it. They wanted to be my friend again but were still wary of Kasumi, since throughout the time we've had school she hasn't shown to be pleasant to be around. I can't blame them for that, since besides me, Kasumi would be cruel to others. She never showed the sides that I knew to others, but I can understand that since everyone else has only been cruel to her. Why would you be nice to someone who's being mean to you? Surprisingly though when I told Kasumi about me and my friends being friends again, she responded quite sourly. She told me to reject them for leaving me easily, but I had countered we could all be friends if she opened up a little to them and that it would be good for her to expand her social interactions. We argued back forth for a while like this until she shouted out "I ONLY NEED YOU A-AND YOU ONLY NEED ME!" Little funny how I can still remember how she said that exactly. A pouting face and tears in her eyes and all.

Needless to say, it got awkward for a little bit. I eventually was able to say that it wasn't healthy to only be around one person and that it'd be good for her to at least socialize with others to some degree. She eventually relented on the grounds that I'd help her along the way. It was agreed and we began to hang out with my old friends at times. She never got that along with them, but it was enough for her to grow more as a person, I think. What she had said though made me take more notice of Kasumi. She'd always be looking at me, watching per say. I'd like to say it was because I was her only friend for so long and was only worried for whatever reason, but I'm not sure. When I asked her about it, she would never answer the question of what she thought of me specifically. Just that she meant what she had said and that was that.

Having thought on it multiple times since then, I think that's when the Kasumi I knew started to change. She became more straight forward and sharp. More cold and such. Gone was the girl I knew with enthusiastic energy, nervous outlook, scared of bugs, loved stuffed animals, and…. just Kasumi. I know we all grow up as we get older, but she had changed so much. I later learned in one of the few outings we had together that she taking extra classes to take over her parent's business, which would explain some of the change as business isn't a pretty world. I can only imagine the pressure that was being put on her. It's so strange really, she changed in the matter of a day. She was the Kasumi I knew yesterday, then it was this one. All but personality were they the same.

She stayed rather neutral to me. Although I knew we were still friends, I myself just wasn't so sure of what we were exactly. She did talk to me, but not as actively before and she never made any sort of comment of just what we were anymore. Any attempts to find out resulted in failure.

This continued into our last years of high school and graduation. We all graduated and I said goodbye to my friends as our career outlooks just didn't match. I wasn't entirely sure what to do myself, and my friends were all prepared. Naturally, we went separate ways and I wouldn't see or hear from Kasumi for quite some time.

Then the incident happened with Avenir. It was all mostly a blur as to when it all happened. I just knew not to be outside much aside from work. It was still mostly peaceful, aside from the quickly waning belief in Lady Black. No one was quite sure of what exactly was happening. Although two certain things were happening. Avenir was gaining the trust of the people and Lady Black Heart was losing it. It was almost as if two factions existed in Lastation, Lady Black Heart Vs. Avenir. That was when the Avenir incident occurred.

They unleashed one of their machines which destroyed large parts of Lastation. That was when Lady Black Heart showed up again and stopped Avenir. It was practically chaos, buildings came down, people were running and in the chaos my father was one of the few who suffered. He died protecting us, as there was a giant chunk of debris that was falling on top of us. He acted quickly and got me and mom to safety, at the cost of his own life. Me and mom stayed where dad was for hours. My mom was wailing tears of anguish as she held me in a tight grip, and I could only stare in shock at where my father had once stood. It wasn't until we heard the destruction of the robot that caused all this destruction in the first place did I snap out of my trance. I slowly moved me and my mother away from scene, all the while mom was reaching towards her husband and me letting out my silent tears of pain of having to hear her wail and departure of my father.

In the months that followed we both changed, more so my mother did. She started to just always stare at me, just watching me. She'd follow me constantly and always try to keep me in eye vision.I can't blame her really, we were a family a three and for her husband to leave like that so suddenly. She had to anchor towards me and to be quite honest I was also afraid of her leaving me too. But I knew we couldn't go on like this forever. Something had to change. So it was with this resolve in my mind, that I decided we'd go to the yearly expo, just get some normalcy back in our lives.

That was when that "event" happened.

It was all normal at first in the expo. Me and mom kept together and went about the expo. We hadn't gone last year, so it was nice to see what was new now. It was our first step to going back to normal. The first step to change, but it only served as a step back. Avenir struck again, another robot, and the Goddess came again to save us. Except this time we didn't have my father. I had to be the man, and I did. Except I didn't have to pay with my life, only get hurt really badly. Which wasn't a good thing since my mother regressed from the progress we had made. She toke me home, treated my wound, and clutched onto me in her room. We just sat there for hours and into the night. It was only after telling her constantly that I'm okay that she finally let me go. That went well, didn't even know what happen in the aftermath of that incident and now my mom was watching over me like an apex predator.

I hadn't seen Kasumi at all in all this time that followed but when I did, I was so happy. To see that my trusted friend alive and well after the incidents, but more importantly to have something normal again in my life. I expected to just chat with her when she came to our door and maybe go out, let this serve as another treatment method for my mom. My mom was already familiar with her so she was welcomed in easily and we sat in our living room. It was going well at first, we spoke about how we were handling ourselves and Kasumi's parents helping those who recently suffered from the Avenir incidents. Until she took out a pen and paper, and asked me:

Will you marry me?

It was a marriage certificate. So like her to just throw a bomb right in your face. My mother's reaction was instant. Since my father's death and my recent injury, she had become super protective of me. She was afraid I'd be taken away suddenly, just like dad, and Kasumi throwing this bomb at us wasn't something she was prepared for. She ripped the certificate up and just about threw Kasumi out of the house. As Kasumi left though, she looked me straight in the eye and mouthed: "I won't give up."

Since then she'd ask me whenever she got the chance alone with me. She gained a great distrust with my mother and as such only ever tried asking the question when we were alone. Which was rare since my mother had her talons on me, I let her since she was so afraid…..and again I was afraid she'd leave me too. We really couldn't catch a break.

So it lasted for the entire duration of the incident of Gamindustri and the year that followed that me and my mother were afraid of losing each other. Gradually we both recovered, me at a faster rate than my mother. I actively had to help her get past it by going out to get a job. She needed to be away from me in order for her to move on, otherwise she'd be nursing a never ending wound. Also the fact that she couldn't work was also an incentive. We were always well off financially but I knew we wouldn't last forever on our savings.

Of course my mom hated me wanting to be a hunter but it was important for money and showing her that I'll be fine on my own, that she didn't have to worry so much. This worked and she slowly started to move past the trauma she'd been undergoing. Although she still remained hateful towards Kasumi, she never would stop unless something changed.

And here we are again. With Kasumi once again proposing to me. She's a beautiful young woman. With all the attractiveness in the world at her side. Vastly intelligent and years beyond her. After getting to know her, shes quite sweet and pleasant to be around. Great future ahead of her and someone that I have quite the history with.

So why am saying no to her?

Any other sane man my age and background with herwould say yes in a heartbeat. Just from looks alone she kills it. I know just about anyone would kill to be in my position.

But I'm not any other guy (so I like to believe).

Kasumi Kiro has always wanted something. She makes the effort to make it hers but there is always a price for it. Either on her end or the other. I'm not sure what she has to gain from this or lose. I'm not sure of what I'll gain or lose either, well aside from my mother being angry. With her never wanting to give me an answer to why she's asking me this question, there's only been one thing to really base any of this sort of question on.

Our feelings.

I had a crush on Kasumi before. In high school, but I didn't want to be anything more. Being her friend had been so much fun, and I didn't feel anything more besides a fleeting attraction. Then with the random proposal while me and my mother were going under a hard time, I lost even more of the attraction I had towards her.

Her emotions? I have no idea, shes never shown anything along the lines of love towards me. So I can't make any sort of prediction.

So this leaves me with….

"I'm sorry, but my answer remains the same."

Even with all the pleading she does, I can't give her the answer she wants. There's so much that doesn't add up to anything and just running into it wouldn't solve anything.

She looks down with my answer, hiding her face. I feel her hands grip mine tighter. I'm sorry Kasumi, but I can't do it with the way we are.

"Are you sure about that?"

"I'm sorry."

"I won't give up you know?"

"And my answer won't change, you know why too."

She heaves a great sigh and let's go of me. She looks up back into my eyes, her green into my black. I can't tell what she's feelings, never have been good at reading eyes.

"….."

"….."

We say nothing to each other as we stare into each other.

"You could just te-. "

"No."

I tried.

"Then I guess this is where it ends." I say as I stand up.

She stiffens and moves closer to my seat, effectively blocking me from leaving.

"Kasumi, move please."

"Not until you reconsider."

"We're attracting a crowd now you know."

"Let them watch."

"Kasumi don't be like this."

"I wouldn't have to if you just sa-."

"Said what?"

A third voice. A voice full of venom and the promise of death. A voice I'm very familiar with. Me and Kasumi both froze at the familiar voice.

Turning around, we see my mother with the wrath of the gods on her face.

"I've been waiting for you to come home for so long Adam. I got worried and came looking for you." she says as she slowly walks towards us with that sweet smile of hers. I might be more scared than Kasumi likely is right now. Taking the chance to peek at her, I can see that Kasumi is wide eyed and is breaking into a sweat.

"Imagine my surprise when I heard at the hospital that a girl with blonde hair dragged Adam away. My, it was as if you were waiting for this moment. But you wouldn't do that. Right Kasumi?" By the god's shes so scary!

She stops right in front of us and slowly scans our positions.

"So. What were you two doing here?"

We both stay silent.

"You weren't talking about that question again. Right?"

By the way mom looked at Kasumi, the answer was obvious.

"Well, in that ca-."

"Wait!" Goddess I hope I can pull this off.

"Hmm? What is it Adam? Can you explain this?"

"Yea, it's nothing like you're thinking about. Kasumi had come to visit and we went out to catch up since I was already out. I was going to call you but it slipped my mind. That's all, so please calm down mom?"

She said nothing and merely kept staring at us. After some time she breathed a deep sigh and calmed down.

"Let's just go home Adam, you must be tired. I'll wait for you outside, but don't take too long. Okay?"

"Yea mom, no problem."

She sends Kasumi a glare and leaves the café. Thank goddess we were able to avoid the hidden storm that is my mother.

"You alright?" I asked the startled Kasumi.

She sharply looked at me, and her face was full of gratitude.

"…Yea, I'm alright and thank you for that."

"No problem. She was scaring me too but I do need to go home with her."

She nods understandable and moves out of my way. As I start my leave she grabs my arm quickly.

"This isn't over. Even with her going on me like that and you saying no….I won't give up." This was always one thing I admired about her. Quite the determination on her.

I can only nod at her, and take my leave. I would have liked to said more to her, but I can't take up too much time and I'm not sure what to say to her anyway. With one last look back at her, I can see her intensely staring at me.

All the while I have one primary thought going through my head throughout all of this.

Why did our relationship turn to this?

A/N: This one toke some time to get how I wanted. I even had to replay through re;birth 1 a little bit. but here we are!

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and thanks to those who have followed me and such :3. I'll only work harder!

Also, I just changed the tags of the story. It won't change what the story will turn out to be, just I believe (along with a friend) that these tags will fit the story better. Although don't think those previous tag elements are going away!

For now, I hope you all have a good day/evening/night!

See ya next chapter ;).