Summary: One-shot In autumn, falling leaves can lighten anyone's heart…but Anna's wish beings out the sensitive side she swore never to let anyone see. AnnaxYoh
Rating: K (G)
Chapter Notes: In science we were watching a video on why trees killed off their leaves in autumn, and I suddenly imagined Yoh and Anna in the picture. Yeah. Quite random. I also got the idea of wishing leaves from a story on AnnaxYoh
Disclaimer: I don't own Shaman King.
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It was dusk, and the beautiful colours of the sunset threw themselves across the evening sky. The clouds were casting a pink glow over the park, where two solitary figures stood underneath the autumn trees, one of them trying to catch the falling, brown leaves. This one was Yoh Asakura, a light-hearted young Shaman, who delighted in the simple things in life. The other, Anna Kyouyama, was an icy Itako, and Yoh's fiancé.
The former loved autumn – it was his favourite season, for he loved seeing the leaves on the trees fall down around him and cover the ground in a crisp pathway. Sometimes he wondered why they did it, but in the end, it always came down to the fact that they were there, and he was there.
There was a rumour he'd once heard, that if you catch a golden leaf in autumn, you have one wish to make. Yoh had never considered what he would wish for if he caught one; they always seemed to slip out of his hands just as he touched them, or the wind would blow them just out of reach. Even so, he kept on trying and trying, in the hope that he would one day catch one.
Anna regarded him with an uninterested eye. Every autumn was the same to her. The leaves were there one day, and the next they were all on the ground, annoyingly covering up paths and crunching underneath her feet. However special they were to Yoh, they were as big a nuisance to her. In any way, she wasn't particularly bothered. If they were in her way, then Yoh just swept them away.
She found it funny that he tried to catch one to get a wish. Yoh, she thought bitterly, probably had most of his wishes already: he had friends, and he'd won the Shaman tournament. What more could a guy want? Anna knew what she would wish for if she believed in that nonsense, but wouldn't admit it to herself.
Yoh, exhausted from his exertions, flopped down on the blanket on leaves. Anna, with more grace, sat down beside him and the two didn't say anything but stared up at the sunset.
Then, as if fate was in control, a perfectly golden leaf detached itself from the branch when a breath of wind took hold of it. The two watched it slowly descend down from the tallest bough, billowing wherever the wind took it. It floated directly above them, and came within reach.
Spellbound, Anna reached out her hand and gently, lovingly, took hold of the leaf. The wind leapt up and pulled at the leaf in her hands, but Anna didn't let go. Silently, with Yoh watching her, she pressed it to her heart and wished with her whole mind.
Please let Yoh love me…please let Yoh love me…
Yoh caught her eye and Anna stood up, indicating that she was ready to go home. Yoh followed suit and they started to walk off. As they went, Anna stared down at the golden leaf still in her hand. After thanking it silently, she let go of the leaf.
It fluttered sadly down to the ground.
And took her wish with it.
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-sniffles- It's so sad. I'm sorry I had to give it a sad ending, but it wouldn't really have worked any other way. Please review!
(And for those of you who live in America, autumn is the English equivalent for fall.)
As always, please leave a review.
Xbakiyalo