"Are you all right?" Anna had been walking home from school, when she had seen a young child, looking lost by the road side. Normally, she wouldn't have bothered, but something about the child called to her, reminded her of herself. The child just looked at her. She was dressed in a white ceremonial kimono.

"Are you my mother?" Anna slowly shook her head.

"No, I'm sorry, did you loose her?" the girl nodded.

"Daddy took her away. He said he would take me, but he didn't."

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know. I've been looking for them, but I can't find them! Mommy said she'd always protect me, but she didn't! She didn't!" Feeling an unusual aura coming from the child, Anna seriously wondered what she had gotten herself into.

"Calm down. Look, why don't you come to my house? There you can tell us more, and we'll help you look for you parents, alright?" Decidedly calmer, the child suddenly smiled, and nodded. Anna held out her hand, indicating that she should take it. The child recoiled.

"No! Don't touch me!" Taken aback, Anna simply removed her hand.

"Fine, just follow me then, I don't live very far away." Once again appeased, the child followed Anna's brisk pace.

Once back at the old inn were she and Yoh stayed, she showed the girl were to put her shoes.

"You stay here," She pointed to the living room, "I'll go get the other person who's going to help us." She went with out complaint. Anna walked up the stairs to were she knew Yoh would be. Technically he was supposed to be training, but knowing him, he would try to wheedle the Friday off. For once, she was glad that he was so lazy. Knocking on his door she yelled at him.

"Yoh! I know your in there! Come out, I need to talk to you." The door slid open to reveal a sheepish Yoh.

"Anna, I know I should be out, but you see, I thought that maybe..." Anna held up her hand to stop his automatic explanation.

"I need your help with something." Yoh was, to say the least, a bit surprised. She hadn't yelled at him for not training, and she was asking for his help.

"Uh...sure Anna! What do you need?"

"I found a girl who's lost her parents, I need your help finding them I know they're not around here, she's been looking for a while." Now Yoh was totally blown away, Anna had stopped to help someone?

"Of course I'll help, but,...what convinced you to help her?"

"...she reminded me of someone." Knowing he shouldn't push it any further, Yoh smiled and they went back down to were the girl was sitting, waiting. To their surprise, she was giggling at funny faces that Amidamaru was making for her.

"You didn't tell me that she has shamanic abilities!" Yoh whispered to Anna

"I didn't know." The girl looked up at them

"Your ghost is very powerful, you must win a lot." Deciding that he should just ignore the strangeness, after all, anyone who could see ghosts couldn't be all bad. Yoh replied

"Yeah, most of 'em anyway. Anna tells me that you want to find your parents." She looked at them

"You're name is Anna?"

"You haven't introduced yourselves?"

"There hasn't been time" Anna bit back. Yoh sighed a little.

"My name is Yoh Asakura, this is Anna Kyoyama. Could you tell us yours?" She bit her lip, then shook her head. "Why not?"

"I don't remember." Amidamaru was trying to get Yoh's attention, but he was focused on the girl.

"You don't remember? How long have you been searching for your parents all alone?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I'm searching for them. Mommy told me that if I gave her enough presents, she'd come back, but I haven't found enough yet. I'm almost there, but not yet."

"Master Yoh!"

"Not now Amidamaru." Anna knelt in front of the child, and looked into her eyes. What she saw stopped her. She stopped breathing, thinking, even her heart stopped.

"Anna...?" She fell sideways. "Anna!" Rushing to her side, Yoh almost forgot about the girl. But, Anna quickly sat up. Yoh was worried, Anna looked more scared then he had ever seen her, she turned to the girl.

"Tell me, what kind of presents to you give your mother?" The girls head bowed. "Tell me!" All of a sudden, she produced a short stick from the obi of her kimono. As the top of the stick fell off, Anna, to her horror, saw that it was a knife. Instinctively, she threw her arms up to protect herself. The knife sliced through them, cutting her deeply. The girls eyes were shadowed as she turned to a gaping Yoh and Amidamaru.

"I give my mother blood. That's what daddy gave her, and she went away with him. If I give her more, she'll come back." The girl's voice was disturbingly calm. Yoh could only look with shock as she raised the knife once again to strike. Amidamaru yelled.

"Master Yoh! I have been trying to tell you, the girl is dead!"

"What!??!?" Yoh looked incredulous. Anna slowly brought her arms down and backed away. She was still bleeding badly, but that seemed to matter little to her.

"It's true. She's a fixated ghost. Her father slew her mother for bringing a demon into the world, then himself for helping in the process. He tried to kill the child, but failed. She looks for blood thinking that since that's how her mother left the world, it would bring her back." The child, Yoh, and Amidamaru looked at her unbelievingly. The child spoke first.

"My mother is not dead! She promised to always protect me! She promised! She promised!" She kept repeating it. Over the noise, Yoh had to ask a question.

"Anna, how do you know that? Even an empath such as yourself can't read the thoughts of ghost!" Anna stared at the child.

"I know, because she's me. Long ago, I was that." She looked at Yoh, "You saved me though." Anna then lunged at the child, pulling into her a hug. "Listen to me!" Her cries stopped. "Your mother is dead, nothing can change that."

"Uh, Anna, is that really the best..." a glare shut him up.

"But, if you let go of your hate, you can see her again. You hate daddy for taking her away, I know that. You hate people for calling you a demon, you hate them because you know what they think, even if they don't tell you. You know their petty desires, their wants, everything. You hate your mother for going away." Her voice got slowly softer, until Yoh could barely hear her. Both Anna and the girl started shaking. The girl was crying.

"It's true...I hate them all! Nothing can change that!" the knife was out again, and into Anna's shoulder. Yoh pushed forward, thinking to save her. This was dangerous situation. He hated to see her hurt, and if he could save her, he would. Especially after hearing of her child hood. She stopped him by holding her arm out. Catching the girls hand with the knife in it as it was about to strike again, she continued, softer then Yoh had ever heard her speak before.

"I know, I really do, but, if you don't stop hating them, you'll never be free. Do you understand? Your mother loved you, even if no one else did. Don't you want to see her again?" Her tears came faster

"I do...I always wanted to see mommy..."

"Then don't you think it's time you let go?" She nodded

"I want to go home. I wanna see mommy again! I wanna say I'm sorry I hated her!" Anna took the knife and placed her hand on the girls cheek.

"Then go." The girl, now known as a younger Anna Kyoyama disappeared into soul flames, finally ascending into the other world.

Yoh could see that Anna was crying, no matter how she hid it. Approaching her slowly, he held out his hand.

"Anna..." She stood up abruptly.

"Thank you for your help. Please continue training." With that, she tried to flee, but Yoh, having just come out of his total shock was quicker. He caught her arm, and sat, pulling her next to him.

"Anna...Anna...your hurt. I'm going to go get something to fix them with, stay here 'k?"

Anna stayed were she was while Yoh went to fetch everything he'd need to bind the cuts that Anna had gotten. He was a little surprised when he found that Anna had actually listened to him and not gone anywhere. But nonetheless, he was glad. Sitting next to her, he pulled out a piece of cloth and cream

"I'm just going to clean these. Who knows where that knife has been?" as soon as he said that, he knew it hadn't been the right thing. Anna's face looked anguished.

"Probably covered with human blood...." Yoh decided that he should stay silent now. After a few minutes, Anna's arm and shoulder were bandaged. She got up, nodding thanks to him. For the second time, Yoh stopped her. He knew she wanted to be alone to sort everything out, but he wouldn't let her. She had kept everything to herself too long.

"Was that really your childhood." He held on to her arm, jut to make sure she stayed were she was. Looking away, she didn't answer. "Ah, I see this is one of those I-can't-show-emotions things."

"No, it's one of those drop-it-and-leave-it-alone things. Let me go, and return to your training." He shook his head.

"Anna, I want to know. As your fiancée, I...I demand to know!" Shocking both himself and Anna with his wording. "Don't you think I deserve it?" Still, she didn't look at him.

"It was the truth. Now let me go."

"No."

"Yoh!" She looked at him, completely frustrated, and stretched to the edge of her already short patience, shortened by recent events.

"You...you cried. I know you did. I just want to help Anna. I didn't know about your past. But, I wanted to. I never had the courage to ask what had happened to you that made you like you are. What made all the hatefulness inside you when I first met you. Now though...I can't say I understand, but, maybe, I have a little insight....won't you talk to me about it?" She was tired, so tired of keeping everything to herself, not letting anything through. Though she'd given up the hate a long time a long time ago, the pain and emptiness stayed, it persisted even now. Now, Yoh was offering to share it with her. It was the last straw. She fell towards the only source of comfort she had known in a long time, tears silently running down her face. Yoh just held her, speaking soft words of comfort.

While Yoh couldn't say that everything would be alright, he knew that things were definitely on the road to being repaired.

Yes, I know it's weird, it's over-dramatic and doesn't really have an ending but I thought it was interesting idea. I really have no idea what Anna's child hood was, but I know that Yoh was called devil child. Combined with a vague remembrance of Mayu from Inuyahsa number 3, I took it from there....