Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King or any of its characters yadayadayada.

Reen's ramblings: I first started writing this piece as a separate one-shot, but then I thought it sort of looks like a side story to my own Prom fic, so I made it into a chapter XD I took the opportunity to explain in this part about…er, several loopholes in the story. I'm straightening it out, and I've already rewritten the other chapters. No major changes though, only a few here and there. Anyway this turned out to be a bit angsty. Oh well, so much for the supposed 'humor' genre of this fic. But don't worry folks; it's only for this chapter. Expect the whackiness to return in the others XD
Thank you muchly to those who read and review, I appreciate all of it, I do. So here's chapter 7 and yay for summer vacations. :D

Chapter 7

"Oh, my God." Keiko covered her mouth, her eyes brimming with tears. "Dead? Both of them?"

"Yes," a stoic-looking police officer answered. "They didn't have their seatbelts on. The crash killed them instantly."

"As of the moment, we could not get in touch with any relative of theirs," another man dressed in a suit and trench coat spoke up from behind the officer. "It appears the parents of both are already deceased, and that the woman is an only child. He has a sister, but her whereabouts are currently unknown. It also appears that the two of you are their closest friends."

"We understand," said Mikihasa, who was standing beside Keiko, his arm placed around her shoulders to support her.

"And their child?" Keiko asked shakily. "Anna?"

"We have her with us," the officer said. "We ask that you—"

"We'll take her," she said immediately. "Where is she? I'll—"

"I've got her, Keiko." Kino came up the porch steps, carrying in her arms a sleeping, fragile-looking girl of about four years of age. The old woman slowly walked up to Keiko and handed Anna to her carefully.

Anna cracked her eyes open a bit, jarred from her sleep. "Mommy?" she asked, her voice tiny, seeking comfort.

Keiko kissed her forehead. "Shh, go back to sleep, child. It's all going to be okay."

With that, Anna closed her eyes and fell into a deep, troubled sleep—the kind of sleep she would have for years, feeling that someone precious to her had abandoned her.

"Hi there."

It sucks being a new student at school. Especially if you're a new student at your last year in high school. She could feel all the stares of people around her as she walked down the corridors to get to her homeroom. Could hear the whispering, perhaps snide remarks being made about her appearance. Could see them giving her the once-over.

Well, fuck them all. It's not like she asked for any of this shit.

Actually, you did. You practically begged your aunt to bring you back here. So you can see him again.

Shut up, conscience, she snarled inside her mind. Yes, she had gone mad and had taken to talking to her equally insane self.

Sounds of throat being cleared beside her. "Um. Yoo-hoo?"

She threw an irritated glance at the girl sitting beside her. "Yes?"

"Hi. You're new here, right?"

Have you seen me before around here? DUH. "Yeah."

"Yeah. Sorry to bother you, but you look kind of familiar to me. Like, I dunno…you were a childhood friend?" The girl laughed. "Anyway. I'm Tamao."

She stared at the hand the girl held out to her, then at the girl's face. Gentle, friendly smile. Rosy cheeks. The same short, pinkish hair. Tamao. She took the girl's hand and shook it firmly. "Anna."

"Nice to meet you, Anna!" Tamao said cheerily.

They became best friends not long after that.

Anna never did tell her that once, before, they were already friends.

"Tag!"

"Nuh-uh, try harder!"

It was windy, the kind of windy that is perfect for children playing outside, on the hilltop. To cool their skins warmed from the rays of the sun, wet with perspiration from their running around.

There they were: four of them laughing and screaming as one of them tried to catch another in their game of tag.

A jet flew over them, leaving its trail in the clouds.

One of the four, a blonde-headed little girl, stopped running and looked up, following the jet with her eyes.

"TAG! You're it!" A boy with dark hair too long for his actual age descended upon her, slapping her arm playfully.

The girl ignored the boy and continued to stare at the jet until it disappeared in the horizon.

"Heeeeey! I said you're it!" the long-haired boy said crossly.

"I don't wanna play anymore," the girl said quietly, firmly, abruptly sitting on the grass.

Another girl, this time with short, pinkish hair, came up to them. "What'sa matter? Are you hurt?"

The long-haired boy shook his head vigorously, making his hair swish in all directions. "Nope, SHE doesn't want to play anymore 'cuz she's a party pooper."

And the last child appeared and stood beside the blonde girl, looking exactly like the long-haired boy except for his much shorter hair. "If Anna says she doesn' want to, then she doesn' want to. Leave her alone."

The long-haired boy made a face at his twin, then grinned. "'Kay then, whatever. I'm going home. I'm getting hungry anyway. I'm gonna eat all of your cookies if you don't go with me now."

The other boy grinned too, making the two boys look exactly alike, knowing that his brother will save some cookies anyway but will probably drink all the milk their mother would have prepared by now as their snack. "Whatever you say, Hao."

The long-haired boy turned around and began descending the hill, whistling. The other girl followed. "Hao, wait! Wait for me!"

Hao turned and stuck a tongue out at the pink-haired girl. "Catch me if you can, Tamao!" And then he started running as fast as he could, laughing at Tamao's shrieks of "YOU MEANIE!" as they chased each other to the house.

Yoh glanced at them with a slight smile on his face, before turning his attention to Anna. He imitated her, sitting on the grass and wrapping his arms around his knees. He doesn't say anything because he knows that's the best way to get Anna to say what's on her mind.

"I wish I had a jet," she said after a few minutes of cloud-watching had passed between them.

"Why?" he asked.

She shrugged her thin shoulders. "So I can go to places and meet lots of people." Maybe I can even meet my parents. Who knows.

"What's wrong with here?" he inquired, but she didn't seem to hear.

"I wanna go to interesting places where there's a lotta things to do, interesting places with interesting people…"

She stopped talking and took to staring at the clouds again. If you squint just right, you can still see the lines the jet left behind. She didn't notice Yoh busying himself with a square piece of rather crumpled paper he found in his front jumper pocket.

"And…" she hesitated. "I want to go to places so I can find out where I belong."

Yoh looked up then, and smiled at her. "But, Anna, you belong here."

She shook her head. Even at her young age of seven, she can clearly see that Yoh, Hao, Keiko, Mikihasa and Grandma Kino and Grandpa Yohmei are family. And she—well, she's an outsider. An intruder. She knows that Kino and Yohmei aren't her real grandparents and that Kino and Mikihasa aren't her mommy and daddy, even if they tell her to call them that. Hao is an annoying kid a bit older than her, and Yoh is…Yoh is…

"No, I don't," she said sullenly, suddenly upset with her confusing thoughts.

"Yes, you do," Yoh shot back stubbornly. "You belong right HERE." He patted the ground.

"On the hill?" she asked skeptically.

He laughed gaily, and was rewarded by a well-placed slap on his left cheek. "OUCH! Sorry, I didn't mean—well, I mean…you belong here." Yoh pointed to his chest, to where his heart should be.

Anna stared at him, her mouth falling open a bit, completely at a loss for words. He grinned at her despite the stinging on his cheek. She suddenly felt like throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him—and then felt completely embarrassed for even thinking about it. She looked away and decided to turn her attention to the blades of grass at her feet.

They both fell silent, although once in a while Yoh would hum quietly as he worked on something unnoticed by Anna.

"Ta-dah!" Yoh shouted triumphantly a few moments later. He held out his hands to Anna. "For you."

It was a paper airplane. A crumpled paper airplane, if you will, due to the already crumpled paper.

"Can it fly?" she asked, eyeing the paper doubtfully.

"'Course it can." And with that, Yoh threw the plane as hard as he could.

It glided for one, two, three seconds before falling splat on the ground, on its nose.

Yoh hurried over and picked up the paper plane. "Aw, man." He straightened the tip, trying to get it back to its original state. "I guess it can't fly after all."

Anna shrugged. "I knew it couldn't."

"Anyway!" He held it out to her again. "This is your jet for now. Because someday, Anna, I know you'll ride a real jet and go to other places and meet lots of people, like you always wanted." He smiled at her.

"How do you know?" she asked, taking the paper plane and holding it gingerly in her own hands.

He scrunched up his nose in thought, then shrugged. "I just do!" he declared cheerfully. "Your wish will come true, Anna. You'll see!"

The next day, Tamao hopped inside her mother's car and smiled and waved at all of them except at Hao, for whom she pulled down an eye and stuck out her tongue, much to the amusement of the mischievous long-haired boy. As their car drove away, another one arrived.

And the day after that, Anna left with her aunt.

Anna opened her eyes and was momentarily blinded by the harsh glow of the fluorescent light in her room. Shit. One moment she was reading Oedipus Rex for English class and next, she had fallen asleep. But she felt like she didn't sleep at all, what with the dreams she's just had.

No. Not dreams. More like—a jumbled recollection of memories. And for the nth time, she thought of how much her life sucks. Although she supposed she didn't have it that bad, unlike others. Her parents died when she was young, sure, but she got taken care of by a nice family—Yoh's. And then she placed in the care of her aunt, who, despite her inability to settle in one place, was also very nice and loving, although a bit ditzy.

And yes, Anna did get her wish after all. Due to her aunt's wanderlust, Anna was able to go to other places and meet other people. She enjoyed it, at first. But always seeing new places and new people gets tiring, after a while. It also meant short friendships. Hi, I'm Anna, nice to meet you, goodbye. It gets kind of tiring introducing yourself over and over again, so, after a while, she didn't anymore.

So she wished her aunt would finally, finally settle down. No, not get married, although maybe that would be nice. Settle down in one place. Buy a house, not rent a dingy apartment, and find a permanent job.

And once again, she got her wish. Anna just couldn't decide whether it was irony or fate that of all the places they've been to, her aunt would eventually decide to come back here.

Oh, who was she kidding. She didn't actually beg her aunt, only sort of suggested. Maybe we could go back there, was exactly what she said casually to her one night. And the woman actually agreed.

Well, damn her aunt for agreeing with her.

Be careful what you wish for. Because sometimes, you actually get it.

The only wish she didn't get was Yoh's constant letters. Okay, so she lied to him. She got about a grand total of five letters over the years. They were long, funny and sweet. They made her miss him and, in a twisted way, hate him for not writing often enough. What the hell, only five letters in ten years? So she stopped writing. He must have forgotten about her and moved on.

But the look on his face when he first saw her in school told her otherwise.

Anna rubbed her eyes vigorously and ran her hands through her hair. Got to finish homework first before eating dinner. Her aunt had called earlier, informing her that she will be working overtime tonight and that last night's takeout Chinese food can be reheated in the oven.

She hopped off her bed and gathered her books, walking over to her desk and dumping them there. She pulled out the chair and sat down, placing aside an old, crumpled paper airplane almost thoughtfully before arranging her books and bending over to concentrate on her homework.

To be continued
(when, I have NO idea)