AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH. i finally got the 3rd review! that took a lot longer than i expected. WOW!anyways thank you to Mew Rika, Tomahawk3.0 and my last reviewer 9 tailed vixen. HAHA.i warned you all. same rules apply to this chapter. i need 3 reviews actually i might just change it to 1 because not many ppl r reading this fanfic soooooo. here goes. oh ya and my computer crashed so we had to wipe it (thank the lord for backup memory cards) so forgive the long wait. I own Nothing, BLA BLA BLA. here goes.

PLEASE READ THIS NOTE. I CHANGED RYOU'S AGE SO HE IS 2 YEARS OLDER THAN JOSIE SO IN THIS CHAPTER HE IS 10 YEARS OLD. THIS IS 3 YEARS LATER

CHAPTER 1! 8 sucks.

'GERRRR!" Josie growled. "You big BULLY!! Leave Ryou alone!" Josie had her hands on her hips as

she shouted at the 8th grade boy who had been picking on Ryou.

"Aaaawwww!" The 8th grader teased. "You got yourself a wittle bodyguard! How sweet!" the boy laughed.

"Josie, just forget it." Ryou started to pull his friend away. "I'm fine. Lets go." Ryou didn't want Josie to get in trouble. She didn't know how to pick her fights very well and if he didn't watch out for her, pretty soon she would come home with a broken nose.

"Ya that's right, run away like the little babes you are." Ryou kept on walking, holding onto Josie' s arm. "Just keep on walking. Hay little girl, before you go, tell me something, do you enjoy dressing like a hobo, or is that just all you can afford?"

Before Ryou could react, Josie had twisted her arm away and was barreling toward the much larger boy. "Josie NO!" Ryou ran after his 8 year old friend, knowing that he wouldn't make it to her before she really ticked that boy off. But maybe he would get to her before she got hurt.

Josie tackled the boy who had made a crack about her family's financial standing. Although she was only 8, she had grown up with very little, so she understood the basics in financing. Money was a touchy subject for her.

Ryou reached for Josie as she lept at the bully. He missed by the hadn't been trying that hard to stop her. He watched for a minute as Josie rolled around on the side walk. He heard the boy cry out in pain and decided that Josie had had her fun, so he reached out and wrestled her off the boy. He began literally pulling her toward her house. Dang, for an 8 year old she was strong.

PRESENT TIME

AN: RYOU IS 20.

Ryou sat down on his couch in his extremely empty bedroom. He had just bought this couch because he had so much money and nothing to do with it. He let out a slightly depressed sigh. How had his life become so dull and lonely? How had he lost contact with the social side of himself?

He wished he could have a friend. He had never had a true friend. Well there were the Mew Mews, but he had only truly connected with Ichigo but she had disappeared a month ago. So far all evidence points to her being murdered. The cops had stopped looking for a missing person and started searching for a body. He'd had when he was younger but she had died several years ago.

Ryou cringed at his memory. He wished he could erase the pain they caused him so he could look back and be happy about the time he had spent with his little hot-headed friend.

He smirked at the time she had beaten a kid up for making fun of her family's money issues. That kid was 13 and she was 8. He laughed at the memory. Then his mind wandered to a less happy time. A memory that he swore to erase from his mind. Ryou tried to stop the pictures from flashing through his head but it was too late. Ryou closed his eyes.

5 years ago

Ryou's pov

"Ryou!" it was Keiichiro. "Ryou, didn't you promise Josie you would call her before the ball drops so you can be the first to wish her 'Happy New Year'?"

"Oh ya! Thanks for reminding me." Ryou ran to the phone and dialed the number of her cell. She had been so excited about getting that cell phone. The phone rang once before she picked up. She had obviously been waiting for him to call. This was the first New Years they would spend apart. Josie had moved several months ago to New York, so she was at Time Square to watch everything happen live.

"Hello? Ryou? I was scared you'd forget to call. How is everything back there? Did you get my birthday present I sent you?" Josie was so scatterbrained. She had called him the morning of his birthday to check if he had gotten that present and that night and everyday for the next week. Her parents finally took her phone privileges away because of the bill. She got them reinstated today but was only allowed to use her phone if someone called her on it, so she sent him 10 E-mails, 6 I.M's and 5 messages from a pay phone to tell him to call her for New Years.

"Yes I got the present, of cores I wouldn't forget to call, and everything is fine." Ryou answered, skipping over the fact that Keiichiro had to remind him to call.

"Thank Keiichiro for me." Josie said randomly.

"Um, OK? Why am I thanking Keiichiro?" Ryou was confused.

"He reminded you to call me. I'm not stupid, I knew you'd forget so I sent Keiichiro some E-mails to let him know to remind you if you hadn't called me by 11:30." Josie answered smartly. She always thought of everything.

"Wow, so happy you have so much faith in my memory skills." Ryou said sarcastic. But she had been right to take every precaution. After all, they had been friends for 8 years. She knew him better than he knew himself.

"Hay, I was right you'd forget so you should be thanking me. My parents just got me unlimited txting so you know I would just txt bomb you for the rest of your life." Josie retaliated. Ryou could practically hear the smirk on her face. He missed her so much.

The two talked for a wile until the countdown started. Ryou moved to the living room to watch the TV bro casting while he was on the phone with Josie.

"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Ryou screamed into the phone, at the same time Josie screamed. Ryou noticed that Josie hadn't actually wished him a happy new year, she just screamed. He heard her scream again, this time he heard the terror in her voice. "BANG BANG" gunshots where fired. More screams erupted only this time he heard them from the TV and the phone.

"Josie? JOSIE! ANSWERE ME! WHATS HAPPENING! JOSIE RUN!!!!!!!!!" Ryou yelled as he saw several shooters killing as many people as possible. "JOSIE GET OUT OF THERE! RUN!!!" Josie didn't answer him but he knew she was still alive because he could hear her continuous screaming. He also knew she hadn't been shot because no one shot could scream like that.

"RYOU HELP ME!!!!!" Ryou could hear that she was crying now. "WHAT DO I DO?!!" She begged as she ran.

"QUICK find some place to..."

"BOOM!" Ryou watched as Time Square exploded. It was at that moment that he knew he had lost his beast friend forever.

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