Two months passed as nothing and the results of exams were supposed to be brought today. Not even the results, but the answers from universities. So today was a big day.
Everyone was sitting in unusual silence in class, as they always were the noisiest class of all. The form master came in and smiled to them.
"Well, here are the results of your exams and entering the university results" the man in his early forties put a pile of papers on his desk "so, I'm going to call by names and announce your result" and so he started. Most of students graduated over 90 percent (A/N: here where I came from graduation exam's result is counted by percents). The best were the last:
"And so I'm going to announce few best students" teacher shot another smile to them "So, Ren Tao: average 95 and you got into… Stamford" everybody clapped and sheered. Ren shot a grin of proud and took his graduation paper.
"Let's go on shall we. And so Yoh Asakura: average 98 and you got into… Oxford!" that made Anna slightly disgusted. How on earth did he get there? That's the best university in the world! How did that lazy ass got there?
"Yes that's very good result. However, we got two students who were the best of the best and they both graduated with average of 100 . They are… Anna Kyouyama and Hao Asakura!" both stood up and walked to the teacher.
"Now listen. You both can choose from five different universities. You can choose until the end of term which is next Monday. I'll be looking forward to it" he smiled and shake hand to both. Anna walked back to her seat. The form master began to say the speech, but Anna didn't listen. She read the paper, which said the list of five universities she's gotten into: Oxford, Harvard, Stamford, Carlos's III University of Madrid (A/N: That's in Spain) and Vaseda University in Tokyo. Anna smiled weakly. Well, that's even better than I expected.
As the bell rang, Anna got out of school with heart full of joy. At least one thing in this life without Hao made her smile. As she walked, little boy caught up with her. He gave her a note, looking to her with fearful eyes and quickly ran away. Anna watched the boy disappearing in a crowd, then opened the note. It said: Meet me at the park. You know where the pond is. Yours, Hao. Anna's body shake in fear. If something happened…? Quickly she ran to the park and found Hao easily. They hugged each other and kissed. Then Hao spoke:
"Where are you going to go?" he asked. Anna sighed weakly.
"I don't know. Where ever just away from here"
"Than let's go to Harvard. Nobody goes there who could be dangerous to us. Besides, the most of it is in LA. What do you think?"
"Fine. But when?"
"Do you know the date of your wedding yet?" Anna shake head.
"No. Kino's going to tell me tonight"
"Well then e-mail me and we'll plan everything, ok?" Anna nodded and hugged him.
"It's a miracle that no one knows about this" Hao stroke his hand through Anna's hair.
"Mikihisa knows" he said softly. Anna drew back suddenly, looking to his eyes.
"What? Hao, why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to worry you. Besides, I took care of it. Mikihisa is no obstacle for us now" a shudder went through Anna's body. She closed her eye and lowered her head.
"I'm afraid, Hao. I hate to admit it, but I really am" Hao embraced her.
"Don't be. Everything's going to be fine. I promise" Anna hugged him back.
"Rather a beautiful sight, to tell the truth" a voice came from behind a tree. Hao and Anna jumped from their places. From behind the tree came Mikihisa "I warned you, Hao, that if you'll touch her again, the consequences will be terrible"
"And haven't I said that I don't care?" Hao responded with danger in his voice. Anna's eyes grew cold and angry.
"Are you still following me?" she asked, completely annoyed from the fact that she cannot have her personal life.
"I never stopped. And more respect to me, miss Anna" the girl hissed.
"I'll pay all the respect you disserve, which is none" these words struck into the place they were targeted to.
"You shall pay for that!"
"Don't you dare to threaten her like that. And besides, she's already paying by marrying Yoh"
"This is not your concern now" Mikihisa turned to Hao. "I wanted this to be a silent agreement, but I see there's no way you'll understand that" Mikihisa clicked his fingers and ten wardrobe-sized guys showed up. Anna felt fear and horror already hitting her legs. Anther thing she felt that two hands from behind took her over forearms and dragged along. She hesitated, but the two were too strong. Everything she saw before she was shoved into the car, was Hao surrounded by all the guys and Mikihisa, standing and watching. Horror and understanding what just happened mixed and burst out as tears…
Hao was waking up slowly. A sudden wave of pain made him groan. A cool and gentle thing toughed his forehead.
"Lie down, you've been hurt badly" a voice said. Hao opened his eyes. A locks of blue hair met him. Pirika.
"What…Where…?"
"Sh. You're safe at your home. Horo and Ren found you and brought you here. Then I and Tamao came here to look after you. You've been unconscious for six hours already" Hao closed his eyes, because he didn't have enough strength to keep them open. Everything he felt was pain and only pain.
"Thank you" he said weakly. Pirika smiled.
"That's what you get for loving the wrong person, huh?"
"Guess so. What about Anna? Is she alright?" Pirika looked at him with concern.
"We don't exactly know. She wrote an e-mail two hours ago. She said that she's fine and that her wedding is to be next Tuesday. She asked me to write to her when you would wake up. Tammy is already on it"
"Tell her that I love her" those were the last words Hao let out before sinking into a deep sleep.
Next day Pirika and Tamao gave an answer to the principal from Hao. He has chosen to be at Harvard. Anna, on the other hand, didn't say her answer just yet. As she was sitting in the canteen, she remembered the conversation with Keiko.
xxxFLASHBACKxxx
A knock on the door. Anna brushed her tears away.
"Come in"
"Hello, Anna. May we talk?" Keiko was always polite and respectful to her. Anna nodded.
"I've heard what Mikihisa done to Hao. I don't support that, because Hao is my son and I love him. And I love you as a daughter as well, but you need to realize one thing. Now, you are promised to Yoh and you need to forget the life you had before" Anna turned away from her to the window.
"What if I can't? What if I…" she couldn't finish it.
"Love Hao too much? I know what love is, Anna. Just like you, I'm a woman. Love makes you do things you never thought you could do, but this love between you and Hao…" Keiko sighed "although it's hard to admit, but that love is impossible"
"Don't say that, please. It's killing me" Anna couldn't hold her tears anymore. Keiko came closer and put her arms on Anna's shoulders.
"Cry it out, Anna. You're going to need lots of strength"…
xxxENDxOFxFLASHBACKxxx
Anna took another sip of tea and left the table. She got out of school and headed straight to the Hao's place. There she found Keiko. Anna froze.
"Don't worry, I won't tell" Keiko whispered as she saw terror in Anna's face. The girl sighed with relief and headed to Hao's bedroom. Oh. My. God. What have they done to him? Anna kneeled at the side of bed and looked at Hao's use to be beautiful face. Now it was full of bruises and scratches. She looked down to his half-naked body. It too had bruises and scratches. Anna took Hao's hand and kissed it. She felt his grip grow tighter.
"I recognize you from your scent. It's so…unreal. Like not from this world" Hao opened his eyes and tried to smile, but it just turned to painful grin. Anna kissed his forehead softly.
"I never thought he could do such a thing. To his own son" Hao smiled weakly.
"Looks like he loves his other son more" Anna closed her eyes. The pain struck through her heart.
"Hao, what now? If you don't recover we won't be able to get away. And it's only week left. And even if you do, you still would be too weak to walk, not speaking about eloping" Hao smiled with a smirk. Jeez, not even wounds can take it away from him.
"I will recover. And we will live together. I promised that I will lift your sorrows and I'll light your way through darkness. I'm not about to break these promises" Anna's cheeks were crossed by tears.
"I love you so much" she whispered.
"I know. I love you too" Anna kissed his forehead again…
Keiko watched this scene. I hope you know what you're doing Mikihisa. Because if these two will have enough love in their hearts, they might succeed and defeat you. Well, as they say, if you try to take out the fire of love with water, it'll get even more bright…