To Anna's horror days passed too quickly. She just couldn't cope with the fact that there are only four days left to her marriage to Yoh. And she couldn't help, but think about that horrible day. But bad became worse…

Hao was recovering quickly, but not quickly enough. Besides, Anna couldn't visit him anymore, because Keiko, who was covering their meetings, was changed by Kino, who wouldn't be so understanding.

One day, when Anna was sitting in her room, thinking once again, a knock on the door made her to come back to this world. She shake head.

"Come in" Mikihisa appeared in the doorway. Anna sighed "what do you need here?" she asked with annoyed voice.

"You still don't know how to pay a respect to your father-in-law" Anna scoffed.

"As if you deserve respect" Mikihisa swallowed the insult.

"Anyway I wanted to tell you something. I know that you and Hao are still planning to elope, but here's what I warn you about: if you do such a thing, that you can no longer come back to Japan, because if you do, you'll be hunted till death" Anna laughed cruelly.

"Mikihisa, you're the most intolerable person I've ever met. Even your precious Yoh isn't annoying me that much as you do. That's rather pathetic" Mikihisa slapped her, but not hard. It made Anna only turn her head to right. She turned back, her eyes as cold as icy winter.

"Slap me al you want. That's the truth" Mikihisa slapped her again, but this time Anna turned to face her other chin.

"You shall learn to respect me! If not Yoh's love to you, you would have gone from our life long ago!"

"So why don't you look for somebody else, if I'm so low-leveled for you?"

"Because... Because it was more Yoh's choice and I'm not planning to ruin it" Anna only nodded.

"So Hao was right. You do love Yoh more than him" Mikihisa slapped her once again, but this time Anna fell to the floor. The girl had to collect all her patience and arrogance to survive this slap.

"You're scum, Kyouyama. Nothing like your parents. They were intelligent aristocrats and you? A bitch, who doesn't..."

"Mikihisa! How dare you!" It was Keiko. She kneeled to Anna and hugged around shoulders. "Don't you have any mercy at all? You? An intelligent man like you beats up a woman. That's unheard in Asakura family. Leave us at once! We'll talk about it later" Mikihisa stood in shock for a moment, but turned around and left. Keiko helped Anna to stand up and leaded her to bed. She examined Anna's cheek, which was now red.

"I'm fine, thank you" Anna resisted to help, but Keiko only smiled.

"Yes you are, but let me to take care of you. What did Mikihisa say to you?"

"He said that if I and Hao will try to run away, he'll hunt us if we'll come back to Japan again" Keiko sighed, her face full of sadness. Anna never seen her looking like this.

"I don't know what happened to him. Mikihisa and Hao use to be like best friends, but now... They seem as enemies"

"Maybe it is my fault..." Anna started, her heat burning with pain. Keiko just shake her head.

"No. No way, don't you even dare to blame yourself. There's something different, it's like a hate that's been hidden for a long years. The only mistake you made, was that you fell in love with a wrong brother" Keiko sighed with such a helpless sigh. She got up and walked to the door.

"Whatever you choose, you will always be a daughter to me" she said not looking to Anna. The girl fought with the wanting to run and hug Keiko, but all she did was cry. Never a woman, so close to her, said such words to her. Not that she had anyone that close.

"Thank you..." Anna hesitated, but she managed to whisper "mother" Keiko smiled to herself and left. Anna smiled too, but with a smile as bright as sun...

But this smile wasn't meant to last. Soon, the wedding day came and Anna haven't got a single chance to talk with Hao. She was in a despair.

As she got up in a morning and began to prepare herself for a wedding, Pirika and Tamao entered her room. Anna was surprised about that.

"What are you doing here?"

"We came to help you of course and to hold you up" Pirika ended with sadness in her voice "you're going to need support" Anna almost cried, but controlled her tears.

"Do you know anything about Hao?" she asked instead of bursting into tears.

"No" Tamao answered with even sadder voice "for all time his house has been watched by a guards. He's nursed only by Kino" Anna sighed. She expected this, anyway. Mikihisa kept his promise.

"Well then, since you're here..."...

Yoh was half ready by that time, in his room, he was looking into a reflection of himself and somehow didn't feel right. Now he felt like he was betraying somebody. But Yoh hid those thoughts away. Now was not exactly a best time to think about conscience. But then he didn't know how mistaken he was. A knock on the door woke Yoh up from his conversation with himself.

"Come in" it was Kino who appeared in a doorway.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Guess so, but grandma, could you tell me one thing?" Yoh hesitated to ask this question, but he wanted an answer.

"Anything"

"Is it possible that Anna will love me?" Kino sighed. She walked to bed and sat on it. She looked tired now.

"Yoh, I know it's a question to which you're willing to her a negative answer. But this is where I have to disappoint you. Anna is a strong person and knows how to deal with her feelings. I know, toughed her since childhood. She'll learn to love you in her own way and she won't fight it, but she'll never forget her...other half of her heart" Yoh looked as if something just hit his face.

"Than this marriage is a mistake. I should let her go" he looked sad. Kino stood up and closed to him, looking to his eyes.

"This cannot be undone anymore, you know that. Now your father won't let you not to marry her. Although he looked displeased with your option, now everything's different. Mikihisa knows Anna is strong and he won't let a unique person like her to slip away" Kino chuckled "besides, I know you love her for real and you'll teach her to love you as well. Good luck, grandson" she smiled to him and walked out, leaving Yoh with a head full of contradictory thoughts...

Anna looked to herself in the mirror. She remembered how happy she was when she was about to marry Hao, but now... Now she even looked different. She was wearing a neck-up, but sleeveless long white dress. A long silver earrings hung almost to her shoulders. A bouquet of flowers was lying on a puff by the mirror. She looked at it, then – to her wrist, which was still covered by the flower bracelet. Anna sighed, but picked up the bouquet and put a bracelet on it's ending. I'll never forget... Then she took the white-gold ring of her finger and put it on other hands finger. Never will I forget you, Hao... A tears began to form in her onyx eyes. She looked once again in the mirror. Somehow she found herself weak, vulnerable and incomplete. Who am I without you? Suddenly she heard a song from a radio that woke her up every morning. She completely forgot about it. A song caught her heart. It said:

i'm so tired of being here
suppressed by all of my childish fears
and if you have to leave
i wish that you would just leave
because your presence still lingers here
and it won't leave me alone

these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase

when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears
when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears
and i've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me

you used to captivate me
by your resonating light
but now i'm bound by the life you left behind
your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams
your voice it chased away all the sanity in me

these wounds won't seem to heal
this pain is just too real
there's just too much that time cannot erase

when you cried i'd wipe away all of your tears
when you'd scream i'd fight away all of your fears
and i've held your hand through all of these years
but you still have all of me

i've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
and though you're still with me
i've been alone all along.

Anna collapsed to the floor and bursted into tears. If only I could tear my heart from me... Oh Hao. Help me somebody, please...