"Alright that tournament was AWESOME!" Tyson punched the air with his fist.
"Calm down Tyson it wasn't that big of a deal…" Ani muttered.
"Am I going deaf or something? I thought I heard you saying that it wasn't a big deal. Are you kidding me! Without you on our team we wouldn't have won the tournament! Kai even said that you were stronger then him!" Tyson screamed in her face making her black hair fly back while everyone stared at them.
"Yeah Ani, without you we wouldn't have won the tournament." Ray told her with a pat on the back.
Ani grinned sheepishly. They had just won the tournament and everyone was flying back to Japan. Ani had been praised almost everywhere she went because she had beaten the whole tournament by herself basically. The Bladebreakers minus herself decided to go berserk and forgot about the whole tournament. Even Kai, which surprised them all. In the last round they all decided to show up and they saw Ani half conscious. She had many cuts and bruises on her body from pushing herself to be the best. And that she hasn't eaten or slept much put more strain on her body. With one final attack she practically shattered the opposing blade and while she turned away she just fainted there right on the spot. Luckily all of the Bladebreakers caught her plummeting form.
"So um…Ani? What are you going to do now? I mean when we found you; you were alone in the forest. What do you plan to do next?" Max asked while looking at her.
"Truthfully I have no idea. Whenever the next tournament comes I guess I'll go then. For now I think I'll just practice and rest until that day comes for another tournament." Ani got off the plane.
Over the next few days before the tournament Ani had grown more open with them all and she talked more. She was happy that she had such great friends but there seemed to be something missing. No one noticed this except for Kai and after a couple of days even after the tournament she was still brooding around he finally asked her what was wrong.
(Flashback)
Ani sat at the base of a tree in Tyson's backyard. She sighed deeply and started drawing whatever came to her mind. Ani was almost done with her picture when a shadow loomed over her.
"What are you doing?" a deep husky like voice asked her.
"Drawing." She said after a moment.
"This seat taken?" Kai asked pointing to the seat next to her.
Ani shrugged. "It's a free country unless we were suddenly ruled by an evil dictator with a pet squirrel with one eye." She chuckled to herself.
Kai raised an eyebrow at her. "An evil dictator with a squirrel as a pet? I do believe Tyson, Max, and Ray are playing a game similar to that." He rested his back against the tree.
"Imagine that." Ani said dryly.
"Look, are you okay? You've been going off by yourself a lot more than usual. You haven't been eating much and I know you haven't been sleeping well either. Just last night you went to bed late and you woke me up at 3 in the morning; you were moving around a lot and then you just sat up, took a shower, and left. You're worrying all of us including Tyson. If you went to dinner last night you would've seen a miracle. Tyson ate only 2 plates of food and it only had 3 things on each plate. When we asked what was wrong he explained it to us and we all agree that something is wrong so you mind at least telling me?" Kai looked at her with a knowing look.
"I appreciate the concern but there is nothing wrong. I've just been more tired lately since the battle okay? I'm fine." Ani gave him a weak smile, gathered up her stuff, and left for the park leaving Kai and everyone staring after her.
(End Flashback)
Right now Ani was sitting on a bench when someone walked up to her.
"Hi!" the girl said.
Ani looked up from her drawing that she was just finishing up to look at the girl. She realized it was Yuki and behind her were the Demolition Boys. "Uh…hi?"
"Remember me? We met at the tournament! I'm Yuki remember? And this is Tala, Bryan, Ian, and Spencer." Yuki motioned to the teens behind her.
Tala and Bryan exchanged glances at her before shaking Ani's hand. Spencer gave her a hug and Ian didn't do anything except glare at her until Yuki hit the back of his head and he very reluctantly shook her hand.
"Yeah I remember you, um… what are you doing here?" Ani asked looking at them all.
"We were all on vacation and the Tala suggested that we pay the Bladebreakers a visit." Yuki explained. "And I saw you, I remembered that you said that you were on the Bladebreakers team and that you single handily won the tournament after talking with the judges."
"And we were wondering if you could lead us to Tyson's house so that we could say hi." Tala finished her off.
"Uh yeah but um…" Ani started.
"Yeah!" Yuki looked at her with a grin.
"Never mind but can I talk to you later? Just Yuki?" Ani looked at Tala.
"Sure I guess." Tala shrugged.
Ani nodded and led them to Tyson's dojo. "Uh… guys! We've got company!" Ani shouted into the dojo.
She led them all into the back of the dojo to see everyone doing multiple things. Max and Tyson were battling, Ray was talking with a small, brown haired boy that she remembered his name as Kenny or Chief, and Kai was looking bored under the tree she was an hour or two ago. The Demolition Boys, Yuki, and herself walked into view right when Tyson beat Max by sending his blade out of the dish.
"Guys? Company." Ani said and sat down on the porch.
"Tala! What are you doing here!" Tyson glomped him.
"We decided to stop by and say hi." Bryan replied and sat down next to Ray.
Kai looked at Ani but she was already inside the dojo. Kenny and Ian talked about numerous things, Ray, Bryan, and Spencer talked a little, and Kai, Tala, and Yuki talked. After a little while everyone heard a crash and they all ran inside to see Ani on the ground with a dazed look on her face and there was glass all over the floor. She was sitting in the middle of all the glass and they could plainly see that she was not in the right state of mind.
Ani's eyes had changed from their crystal blue to a dark almost black blue, her black hair had lost its sheen that was there on numerous occasion, and her usual tight fitting clothes that clung to her figure, hung limp and baggy on her. Her skin that used to be a nice peach color was now unusually pale and white as snow. She was hunched over and was muttering thing inaudible for anyone to hear except for Ray.
Tyson and Yuki were trying to make her way to her but Ray stopped them.
"Don't touch her! If you touch her she could have a moment of shock and it could kill her. She's having an argument with herself, saying things like she will never find out who she really is." Ray explained to them all.
"But she knows who she is. She's Anica Kinomoto, a Bladebreaker and our friend." Max and Tyson said.
"Actually she really doesn't know who she is." Kai started.
"And how would you know Mr. I-Know-Everything-So-Butt-Out-And-Listen-To-Me!" Tyson glared at him.
Kai ignored his glare. "If you had to wake up to her at night yelling that her name wasn't Anica and that she didn't know who she was you' understand."
"That's right. I've heard her muttering things like that in her sleep and a couple times she said that her name was Elizabeth I think." Max sounded.
"I've heard it too." Ray confessed. "I thought it was just a dream but I guess I- we were all wrong."
Kai knelt down beside her and whispered something's in her ear. Ani calmed down and she leaned backwards into him. Kai easily picked her up bridal style and put her in her room. He came back a few minutes later and motioned for Tala.
Tala curious to know what was happening followed him out the door and into her room. "Yeah? What is it?"
"That girl Yuki… did you find her or something?" Kai asked sternly.
