"…Yeah, I noticed that too..."

"…Anna has been acting weird, and since Tamao and Pirika were the last one she was with, I'm having this weird feeling that…"

Pirika slowly closed the door and glanced at her pink haired friend—her 'partner in crime'—with a frown. Her heart was beating fast, and her breath was uneven. She was afraid…extremely afraid. What would onii-chan do if he knows what Tamao-chan and I did? He'd kill us! Many more unpleasant thoughts formed in her mind and her current state did not get any better.

"Pirika-san," Tamao called, tapping the frightened girl's shoulders. "Is there anything wrong?" Tamao asked nervously and with hesitation. She was getting anxious. But then, who wouldn't be? From the look of Pirika's face, one could immediately tell something terribly wrong had occurred.

"They're on to us!" She exclaimed as she made a somewhat silly face. Tamao, despite their current situation, let out a small giggle. "I'm serious, Tamao-chan! They noticed Anna's personality change…and they're blaming it on us!"

Tamao stopped giggling and smiled softly, hoping to give assurance to the younger girl. "Daijobu," She stated gently, although she was pretty much worried, as well. "We'll think of a way to change her back." She couldn't tell Pirika how deathly worried she was, and how unsure she was with her words, it would only devastate her more! She sure did hope that everything would be alright, though.

She breathed out a sigh of relief at the now calmed Pirika. Thank Goodness!

Pirika leaped on a chair and sighed. "What exactly did we turn Anna-chan into?" She inquired curiously as she stared at her pink-headed friend. Tamao shook her head, whispering "I don't know", and tilted it downwards. "But I do know it is something very unlike her." She whispered meekly, blinking back the tears that were ready to emerge.

"I think she's a sweet, enthusiastic and naïve sorta tomboy now, thanks to us." Pirika thought out loud, voice hinted with the tiniest bit of mixture of lightheartedness and guilt. "We are such great friends!" Now it was overfilled with sarcasm.

Both she and Tamao giggled a bit at her words, lightening up the awkward position they're in. But, still, Tamao mentally frowned at herself. She couldn't help it! At that time when Anna was vulnerable she just made things worst rather than help her. If Anna was with them…the real Anna, she would've told the one with the amnesia the truth. She let out a sigh then, hearing Pirika suddenly scream, jumped in shock.

"Yoh-kun! Oh no! If Yoh-kun finds out, he—he'll I don't know what he'll do, but it's something worse than what onii-chan will do!" Pirika exclaimed, grimacing at the thoughts that came in her mind. She still believed that her onii-chan would beat the heck out of Yoh—if he trained and all—but Yoh was really powerful. And, since the matter was of his beloved fiancée, he might go ballistic at the news.

"Oh, that's right."

Pirika worriedly glanced at Tamao, noticing the solemn tone of her voice. She also noticed that she was looking down; feeling upset perhaps? But she couldn't figure out why, so she simply shrugged it off, dismissing it as her overactive and colorful imagination.

"We must tell them then." She said quietly, not daring to lift her head. "Yoh-sama might know a way for Anna-san to—"

Tamao abruptly halted and whirled around. Anna was slowly rising, hands rubbing her eyes. "Anou, did someone call me?" Anna asked, yawning wearily.

"Aah, iie!" Pirika cried anxiously as she vigorously waved her hands (indicating a 'no') and quickly thought of an excuse. "Oh, look at the time! You better take a bath and quick! We're going on a picnic today, remember?"

Anna blinked innocently and then nodded. "Alrighty!" she exclaimed as cheerily as ever, grabbing a soft towel that was hung inside a wooden closet in her room. She headed to the bathroom and closed the door, then started showering moments later.

The duo sighed, seeing Anna's figure disappear into the bathroom, and glanced at each other. "Thank goodness." Both said, almost in synch.

(…ooo…)

"Anyway, does Yoh know?" Ren asked in a slightly serious manner, sipping his milk.

"Huh? Know what?" Horo-Horo, who was currently half asleep, asked, not really paying any heed to what he or Ren was saying.

"About Anna's sudden persona change, baka!" Ren bellowed furiously, eyes twitching with annoyance.

Horo-Horo could only glare at him as he was still feeling a tad sleepy. Ren glared back, completely forgetting their whole 'meeting'. It only took a second or two before they stared fighting.

Again.

"KISAMA!" Ren exclaimed as he rushed to the edge of the couch, where his spear was lying, against the wall. Maybe now I can rid of this Ainu-baka. He smirked, though still gazing crossly at the Ainu. He then called on Bason and grabbed his spear, dashing hurriedly to the wide eyed boy. He thrust the spear on his face, its edge a hair's width from his face.

"Kororo!" Horo cried in alarm, his sapphire optics staring at the sharp edge. Beads of sweat were rolling down his temple as he awaited his cute little friend to appear.

"Yo, guys!"

Both looked at the newcomer who had called the two and sighed. "Choco, what are you doing here!"

"Why? Can't I visit my bestest best friends?" He inquired lightheartedly, laughing. "What are you two talking about anyway?"

With another sigh of despair from the two they briefly explained what they were talking about. They would rather not tell him, but he was too...noisy, annoying, just…ugh. About a good two minutes later, he had gone berserk, falsely berserk at least. "Poor Anna!" He cried, although laughing a bit at the boys' theory. He couldn't help it; he didn't believe that Anna could be easily changed like that.

"So, what are you guys doing now?" Chocolove asked. Granted, he didn't really believe them, but hey, who knows? They might be telling the truth.

"Well, we have to tell Yoh…someday." Horo-Horo said as he sat back down on the couch. He laid his head on his arms and stared lazily at the ceiling. Everything was way too much for him. Anna's condition, Yoh's reaction to Anna's condition, how they will fix Anna's condition. Yup, a lot of stuff.

Slam. A door closed. And then there was stomp. Stomp. Stomp.

They gulped. Anna, Pirika, and Tamao were in Anna's room…so, that can only be—

"Hey, guys," A certain brunette called, grinning the 'Yoh grin'. "What are you talking about?" His voice only hinted slight curiosity, but his face screamed it out.

"Tell you that…that…" Chocolove, the only able to talk at the moment, stammered as he gave Horo-Horo a pleading look. He couldn't lie to Yoh…he just couldn't.

"Tell you that Ren thinks that…erm…that Anna's cute!" Horo-Horo exclaimed as he heaved a nervous laugh. He gave a hesitant glance at Ren before a lump formed in his throat. He gulped. Oh, no. The Tao was ready to burst any second now.

With his panic overwhelming him, Horo hurriedly dashed towards Ren and clamped his hand against his mouth. "Not a word…or we're dead meat!" He whispered, regretting his actions. Who knows how mad that arrogant Ren would afterwards? But he was certain that should Yoh ever get mad, he'll be at least two times scarier than the Tao, so he chose Mr. Arrogant; at least he'll still live later.

"Mfmmp…." Ren mumbled as he shook his head like mad. Why shouldn't he? What a revolting thought. He cried in his head. Anna, cute? That would be the day. He grimaced as he struggled to be release from Horo-Horo's grip. But alas, when he was almost out of his grip, Choco aided Horo and pressed his hand against his mouth as well.

Yoh's chuckling didn't help calm Ren either.

"It's okay Ren; I think Anna's cute too. No need to be modest about it." Yoh said innocently yet somewhat sheepishly—y'know, the tone which is so like him. "And she'd be cuter if smiled more often, ne?"

He was expecting them to shake their head or at least wait for a while before admitting it, but to his shock, the three of them nodded. And he could've sworn he saw faint blushes on the two shamans' (the Ainu and the Tao 3) cheeks. He let out another chuckle at the sight the excused himself from them to take a short walk outside, the usual. Before he left though, he asked if they saw Anna but he was only answered by a simple shrug.

Yoh sighed. Even though he just saw her last night, he felt like he hadn't seen her or ages! Truth be told, he really missed her, her punishments and everything else about her 'Naa-chan'.

He frowned; a very extraordinary thing for that Asakura to do.

"Is there something wrong, Yoh-dono?"

Yoh blinked, slightly jumping in shock. "Oh, hey there Amidamaru." He stated softly, forcing a smile on. "Nope, there's nothing wrong," He shook his head, not bothering to look at Amidamaru. He then sat on the ground and laid his head on his arms. "Don't worry." He flashed his friend a sheepish grin.

(…ooo…)

"Okay, so we'll go to Kino and Yohmei-san and we'll ask them if they know what to do. Is that it?" Pirika asked as she stood up from the futon she was sitting on. She walked across the room and back, anxiousness teeming up within her.

"Yes, and then we can tell the others that we were ordered by Anna to go there, for a simple errand. I'm not certain if they'll believe us, though." Said the pink-haired girl, a small but visible frown on her face. Oh, she just hated lying!

"Then we can't tell them." The now hysterical Pirika cried, ready to explode in any second. "I know it's bad, but we have to go and protect Yoh-kun, as well as Anna-chan."

"Alright, it's settled then." The duo concluded, nodding at their decision.

A minute later, Tamao had excused herself from the younger girl, recalling that they did have a picnic to attend to, and headed on downstairs. She had already cooked their lunches and was now packing up the containers in a little paper bag. She then grabbed two trays of cookies–their nummy dessert!

She slowly and carefully walked towards the table to put down the trays but unfortunately slipped on a wet part of the concrete. Oh, please. Please. Please. She bit her lips and shut her eyes tightly. She didn't want to see what happened to the cookies, what mess she had done this time. Everyone would be disappointed! Oh, why did I have to be so…so…clumsy?

Silence.

Relieved and a bit curious, she slowly opened an eye, checking what prevented the cookies to drop on the floor and saw a smiling Ainu holding her in his arms. "Whoa, you almost fell there!" He exclaimed, shaking her from her somewhat dazed state.

She blushed madly.

For a moment there, she had lost her sense to speak. "Aah, g-gomen ne, Horo-kun." Tamao said bashfully as she regained her composure. She took the trays from his hands and placed it atop the table; one would easily spot her shaking hands. It probably appeared like there was an earthquake! "I-I didn't mean to trouble you." Even her voice was shaky.

"Its okay, Tamao. Just be careful, we were about to lose those yummy cookies!" The Ainu exclaimed, a bit childishly, as he beamed cheerily at the girl.

Tamao softly smiled back. "Hai." She said timidly. She held her head downwards in order for Horo-Horo not to see her fully red face. She didn't know why but seeing Horo-Horo's kind, smiling face made her heart race. She only felt it whenever she sees her Master Yoh, so why now?

There was a moment of awkward silence, but Horo managed to break it. "Say, Tamao, can I have one?" Horo pleaded as he made a face. A very cute one, at that. He made sure no one would ever oppose against it; not even the cold itako. Speaking of which…

Tamao giggled. Horo did look so cute, she couldn't resist. She felt herself blush more, if it is possible, and nodded. She gave him a piece and whirled around, trying to calm herself down. She still couldn't understand why her heart was racing, why its' beat was loud, why it had a need to see Horo.

You're being overly dramatic, Tamao. Just calm down.

Shaking her head of her silly thoughts, she excused herself from the boy and packed the cookies along with the other lunches. Giving him a quick word of goodbye, she immediately made a run for it upstairs, a tad relieved that she got away from him. She was simply too embarrassed to face him!

"Wait…" Horo called, but she had already dashed off. "And I thought she'd tell me about her, too."

(…ooo…)

"Pirikaaa-chan!" Anna called out, of course, with bliss dripping in her tone. "Where are you?"

Coming from seemingly nowhere, Pirika let out a soft giggle and quickly grabbed the now extremely confused Anna. She dragged her to a small room and sat her down on a chair. Pirika seemed very eager, Anna, however, simply held on her towel tightly. "Demo, Piri-chan, I still need to dress!"

"Well," Pirika stated, exhilaration apparent in her voice, "that's why!" She held her tongue to keep from ruining her 'little' surprise. "Just follow me, 'kay?"

"If you say so" Anna giggled.

After what seemed like half an hour or so, Pirika clasped her hand, muttering quiet praises to herself. She pulled Anna to her room and called out Tamao, who had been waiting all that time for them. "Tamao-chan! Look, look! Anna-chan is so cuuute!"

Anna was dressed in a pastel orange sleeveless shirt; it cascaded right down her stomach and its hem was decorated with yellow stars. Along with it, she wore a black skirt that falls above her knees. It was adorned by a cute-looking belt and on the skirt's side, stars was embedded in it, as well. On her feet were simple black and orange sneakers while her hair was tied in two pigtails, contained by two simple strands of ribbon, one black, the other orange.

Anna grinned rather boyishly, scratching her rosy cheek in embarrassment. "Not really."

Tamao smiled at the flushed Anna. She looked so innocent and so happy; it made her wonder if they should change Anna back. It's not that she didn't want the old Anna back, but it was because it was so much relieving seeing her cheery rather than cold all the time. It must have been really hard on her to keep her emotions to herself, after all.

"Let's get going!" Pirika announced a bit too loudly as she had interrupted the pink headed prophetess' train of thoughts. Oblivious, Pirika simply dragged the two humming happily along with Anna.

(…ooo…)

Seating on the couch were the three shamans. All bored to death, if possible. Horo had even inquired if they would turn into spirits, like Kororo and Bason, soon after they died. They had already talked about Anna's condition and decided to keep it low, especially since Yoh was around. They had also settled on interrogating Pirika and Tamao later at their picnic and now had nothing to do. Heck, they even debated on whoever told them to have a picnic. It seemed like it just came out of the blue!

At the sound of Pirika's high pitched shrieks and giggles, all three turned their heads towards the hallway that led to where they were. Judging by the loudness of Pirika's voice, they should arrive in a matter of few seconds. The trio had ennui written on their faces, but as soon as the three females came into view, they could only stare. Awe and the phrase 'wow' substituted ennui.

"Anna?" They stuttered, unbelieving. That girl standing in front of them…the smiling girl with a cute, bright little outfit and a child-like hairstyle…that was Anna! That can't be!

Ren could feel himself blush at the sight of her…again. A new feeling rushed in him; a feeling that wanted him to take back his thoughts about the itako not being cute. But then, he was never the one to do something that affects his pride. What was he doing anyway? He shook his head repeatedly. He cannot be feeling this way about that girl. That's just…wrong!

Again there was silence, but it was easily broken when a laugh was heard. Pirika.

"Hahaha! Ren look at yourself you-you're blushing!" She exclaimed in her slightly shrilly voice, laughing harder and harder. "Ren…Blushing…Anna!" Out of breath, she fell on the floor. Still laughing.

"No I' am not!" Ren bellowed, glaring crossly at the girl. "I-it was just hot!" He was being defensive now.

Pirika stood up from the floor, finally ceasing from her laughter and glared back at him with the same piercing glare he shot her. "Yeah right. You have a crush on Anna-chan and you can't hide it." Pirika stated, in a rather as-a-matter-of-fact tone. She stuck out her tongue and made a face. "Nyah!"

Ren was silent for a moment. Perhaps he had no insult in mind at the time, but, unfortunately for Pirika, a smirk appeared on his face. "…Jealous now, are we?" Ren inquired, though it seemed more of a statement than a question. He gazed directly at her eyes, just to intimidate her.

"Oh, please. Like I'll have a crush on you." She forced to fight back the shaky feeling she felt and mentally scolded her heart to stop beating so fast.

Ren smirked, again. A thought had crossed his mind; it was really simple, but he was certain it'd be enough to infuriate both the Usui's. He looked at Horo-Horo, back at Pirika, then at Horo, and then Pirika again. Without hesitating any longer, he decided to begin his little plan.

Quickly, he cupped Pirika's chin with his left hand and slowly neared her. He could barely keep his laughter as the blue haired girl turn red and quiver. Suddenly, he softly pressed his lips against hers, earning a wide, shocked look from Pirika. Everyone, except for Anna who had no idea what was happening, watched in alarm. Ren just kissed Pirika. Wow. Tamao shot a quick and worried glance worriedly at Horo-Horo. Smoke was literally flowing out of him, like he's a chimney or something.

As Ren released Pirika, he heard a loud 'smack' and felt his head sting. Twitching, he rubbed the back of his head and gritted his teeth. "What the heck was that for?" He demanded, as if he felt that what he had done was nothing.

Both Ainu growled "How dare you!"

"Y-you stole my first kiss!" Pirika cried, tears racing down her cheeks. "I hate you!"

"Heh? So what? You could always have another kiss." He answered simply, raising his eyebrows.

Horo-Horo couldn't take it anymore. How dare he! Making his sister cry…and worse kissing her in front of him. He grabbed his snowboard and threw it once more at the Tao. "Apologize!" He bellowed.

"Why you—"

"Anou—" No one listened to the meek call of Anna, they were to busy watching the intense fight of the two, and were too afraid to intervene.

"Umm," Still no one.

"Ren-chan! Horo-chan!" She finally yelled, placing her hands on her hips. Everyone had immediately halted whatever it was they were doing and glanced at the supposedly mad Anna. Her face had the cutest expression on; one that was trying to be angry, but purely resembled those on adorably adorable children.

Pirika, through her tears, giggled slightly. "Anna-chan, what is it?" She asked, drying her tears with her arm.

"Mm, no fighting!" She cried, pouting. "You're making Piri-chan very sad, see?" She scolded, pointing at the young Ainu's red eyes.

Ren and Horo, taken back at her sudden show of pure innocence, slowly nodded. "O-okay," Horo whispered softly, trying to comprehend the Anna in front of him. "No more fighting."

He felt relief wash over him when he saw Anna pleasantly glad at his words, and looked at Ren. With a soft, but irritated grunt, he gave a slow nod at Anna. "Whatever." He muttered, rolling his eyes.

She giggled, beaming widely at the two. "Yay! Now, Piri-chan will be happy and we can go to the picnic now!"

"Anna…" Pirika whispered, looking at her in disbelief. It was weird, simply weird. No words could express this uncanny feeling she felt. It was like a feeling of overwhelm simply because Anna had just done her a measly favor. She started to have second thoughts about returning Anna to her regular self.

She'll be…she'll be sad again.

"I'm okay now Anna-chan, don't worry" She sniffed, putting on a smile, and grabbed her hand. "Let's go." She then dragged her outside, leading her to the backyard where Yoh was currently, and told the others to follow.

They quickly followed, quiet as mouse.

So, Anna really did change. Chocolove thought, trying to keep his mouth shut, for the first time. He knew that he shouldn't make things worse, with what the way things are. Maybe he'd cook up a joke later, but not now. It was really strange for him, how the Anna he knew had changed so drastically in a matter of days.

(…ooo…)

"Yoh-kun? Are you ready now?" Pirika called as he caught sight of the idle shaman. She waved at him to get his attention.

"Huh? Oh, hai, I'm coming." He answered, waving back, as he slothfully jumped up. He did a few stretches then sprinted towards the group. "Hey, guys." Yoh greeted, grinning at them lazily. He looked at everyone in the small group before noting someone...rather unfamiliar. When he finally figured out who she was, he felt his jaw drop.

"Anna?"

"Hai?" Anna blinked, cocking her head. A soft smile crept upon her face.

...this is the most important thing you should remember about your friends. There's this guy. His name is Yoh Asakura. He is you're fiancé. He has messy brown hair and he always wears orange headphones…I'll tell you more about him later, but you should know that he really really cares about you…

She didn't understand the last part, but Yoh might be her best friend, since he really cared about her, as Pirika stated.

"W—what happened?" He asked in barely audible voice. He studied her carefully and he frowned slightly.

Noticing the sudden gloomy atmosphere surrounding him, Anna looked down at her feet. "Anou, are you sad because of me?" Anna asked meekly.

"No, I just—Iie." He said, smiling kindly at her. He glanced at his friends and, somehow 'asked' them about Anna at contact. All of them merely shrugged and continued on their way, trying desperately to avoid Yoh. They weren't ready to tell Yoh. Not yet.

"Anna. Why did you change?" He suddenly asked her, not really sure what that was supposed to mean.

Anna blinked in confusion. She didn't know what he meant by that but she felt as though someone inside her spoke for her. "I—I don't know. I can't remember." It said.

"Okay." He flashed Anna a sheepish grin and took her hand, leading her to the rest of the group.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that something was definitely wrong about her, but he thought since Anna had changed, maybe he could get a benefit out of it, like get easier trainings? Although, somewhere inside of him had its doubts. He took glanced at her once more and his heart would suddenly felt empty.

Why?

Tsuzuku

Yaaay, third chappie renewed. :33 I hope you guys like this better.
I'm almost with the fourth and fifth chappie, so thankies for being patient. o