Disclaimer: I do not own Klonoa, but Kuroi or Ame and OCs are mine. You can't steal them unless you ask. X3

Chapter 1: Anna, returns?

Five Months later

It was the end of summer, and Guntz was walking through the forest where Anna used to live. He had heard the bad news a few months ago when Maria was visiting the day Anna would have returned. As expected, a lot of the others felt great mourn over Anna, but for some reason, Guntz knew oh so well that Anna might still be alive. That was because his rose ring wasn't gone yet. When he found out, he only told Leorina and Lion. The reason he told Leorina was because ever since Anna came along the two who became rivals at first, became almost good friends... mostly after Anna had left. He also told Lion because if it wasn't for Anna whom she used to call her Mr. Okami, due to her such appearance as a boy including her attire, Lion wouldn't be here today.

So now it was his daily task to keep watch in the forest whenever he was around since he just finished hunting and received a good paying bounty. Now he was going to Anna's old cabin to take a rest, since the cabin was mostly vacant, Mr. Seion had instantly handed Guntz the cabin for him to stay, so he wouldn't have to pay for an inn. Since his bounty hunting was such in good business he was actually starting to miss the young angel. Now that his job was done to take care of Anna, he thought now it was just a big waste and junk like that. All those nights watching her suffer from fever, seeing her negotiate with her boss or that old owl, having her watch him try to beat Leorina in sword fighting, and seeing her spend time with her family. He still couldn't believe how many tears many people sacrificed for her and she couldn't even understand that. He remembered seeing Klonoa look shocked, Lolo close to crying, Popka with his jaw all the way open, Tat already crying her eyes out, and Leorina looking as if she was betrayed or something.

He sighed when he saw the cabin. He still remembered all the memories he had here, although most of them got on his nerves. He yawned as he took out the key from the small bag in his belt and opened the door dropping his bag as he entered. He checked the clock to see that it was only seven at night. He looked out his window to see that the night sky was heavily filled with gray rain clouds. He raised a brow questioningly, this morning it was bright and sunny.

Guntz suddenly narrowed his eyes when he felt a burning sensation on his left ring finger. He immediately looked down and saw the ring glow a sapphire blue brightly. He widened his eyes then looked out his window to see that it was already beginning to rain. He gritted his teeth as quickly as he could and began to leave the cabin to check the mirror Anna had left in the forest. He knew tonight, tonight was the night Anna would come back.

---

In the depth of the forest was a clearing where a tall mirror was place, its rims old and rusted from staying outside for too long. The mirror itself scratched from many curious animals. Now as the rain began to fall harshly the patter of rain drops continuously banged against the mirror mercilessly.

Almost immediately, the mirror began to glow brightly and a small girl with black hair with red streaks at her bangs. She was covered with bruises, black liquid, and dirt as she flew through the mirror and crashed to the wet forest floor flaccidly. Her clothes were torn and her scarf with half gone, but her cloak was completely torn off. Weakly, she began to lift her upper body as she gasped for air. She coughed up black blood that soon turned red when it made contact with the floor. Hastily, she wiped away the remains on her lips and tried to get to her knees ignoring the merciless rain falling on her.

"Chi-chikusoo!1" she cursed banging her fist to the wet, damp ground as her blood-red eyes became blank and she finally collapsed completely on the floor. She began to breathe in gasps as a cherry red blush took place on her face. She had gotten a fever, and it was a bad one.

At that moment, Guntz was running towards her worriedly, he saw her the moment she collapsed to the floor. He quickly came to her aid and turned her over, he gasped when he saw various cuts all over her face, neck, and arms and that was only the things that weren't covered. He put a hand to her forehead only to retrieve it immediately, a very high fever. He grumbled to himself as he took off his jacket and sat the girl up wrapping her in his warm, but damp jacket. He frowned when he saw a red tattoo on the back of her neck, a six-point star, surrounded by a snake with detached wings eating its own tail.

He would have to worry about it later, right now he needed to get his old friend to the cabin. He hauled her onto his back. Her gasps were coming in quicker making him anxious, but then he felt her shift on him. He looked back to see her eyes open just barely half way.

"Da-dare...?2" She tried to say.

"Don't worry. We're going to the cabin now." He assured her, but she had already gone limp again. Without further ado, Guntz began to run through the rain and back to the cabin. This time he wasn't going to lose someone as precious as Anna.

---

Guntz buttoned up the last button on the white shirt he had worn to the ball that was now covering Anna's body, he was lucky the bandages were covering more than 90% of her body. He didn't notice that she was this small even if she had grown over the last five months, but it was the only clean enough clothing he had at the moment. Currently, she was resting with a fever of 105F on his bed that was now hers again. Guntz had put a bag of ice on her feverish head and had opened the windows partially to let in some oxygen. He wanted to cook something warm for her, but he knew if he made a fire its smoke would fill the room and suffocate her, so he would have to wait until she was breathing evenly again.

He watched her solemnly as she gasped for air, moaning through her bad fever. He carefully placed a blanket over her shivering body. He began to rub her vigorously on her left arm and her shivering soon turned to occasional spasms. He checked her temperature and breathing to see it went down a degree and her gasping had returned to long, deep, rhythmic, but shaky breathing. Afterwards, he changed the flannel he had put over her eyes and the ice pack before getting up to take care of her damp, ripped clothing. He wanted to hang them, but seeing them in such bad condition made him not to do so and decided to have Leorina or Lion to shop for new clothes for Anna tomorrow.

But was this really Anna? Guntz was starting to doubt it. Even though she looked like Anna, she didn't have either full black or dark blue hair. Her short jet black hair was still the same, but what weren't similar were the red colored bangs. They were as red as his jacket. And that unusual mark on the back of her neck, that has to do with something about her language. Plus those cat ears weren't similar to the wolf ones she had.

He frowned exasperated until he felt something in her ripped cargo pants pocket. He reached inside to find his father's rifle. He dropped his jaw in shock. He was looking for this everywhere! He gritted his teeth at Anna only to look back down to the rifle again solemnly. He wasn't in the mood to blame the little angel and he didn't want her getting any worse than this.

He sighed jamming the rifle into his holster on his belt, and began to take out the spare futon. He looked out the window thinking that it was going to be a long, rainy night. He removed his jacket and belt and crashed onto the futon exhaustedly, today was a stressful day.

---

The next morning...

Leorina yawned sleepily as she buttoned up her uniform shirt. She got out of bed with Tat still curled up dreaming about catching a yummy mouse. She smiled refusing to help by seeing such a cute little scene from her partner. She petted Tat lightly on the head before stretching gracefully and making her way to the bathroom in her inn room. Just as she was brushing her teeth the radio phone Guntz had given her began to ring on the dresser beside her bed. Quickly finishing up, she ran out of the bathroom and picked up the phone.

"Hey, Guntz," She greeted cheerfully.

"Hey, Leo, can you get some clothes you know the ones Maria used to buy for Anna... in the same size, plus the pajamas? And can you buy a first-aid kit with some medicine?" Guntz asked hesitantly from the other end of the line.

"What? Why? You can buy it yourself, can't you?" She asked defiantly.

"Uh, I can't, I'm stuck at the cabin right now. I'll explain when you bring the stuff over. Can you try and get Lion too? She might want to be here." He replied quickly before Leorina heard a crash and a lot of cursing coming from Guntz.

"A-Are you okay?" She stammered worriedly.

"Y-yeah, I just spilled tea on my pants, it freakin' hurts. Ugh, now I have to clean the floor too, shit." He grimaced angrily.

"Tea? That's pretty rare of you I thought you would be a coffee type of guy." Leorina said interestingly.

"I am. I'm just making tea for someone else, just hurry up, damnit! I need help here!" He said impatiently.

"Okay, okay, if it's that important I'll do it fast." Leorina shot back.

"Okay, see you later." He grumbled. Leorina sighed typically as she removed the phone from her ear, what was that all about? Did Anna appear finally or did he find someone? Either way she knew he was taking care of someone in the cabin and she would have to be quick. She felt something tug the flaps tied to her waist, she looked down to see Tat rubbing the sleep out of her eyes while holding the flap.

"Was that Guntz, Leo, nyao?" She asked sleepily.

"Yeah, we have a lot to do today, you up for it?" She smiled smoothing out the fur on Tat's head.

"N'yeah," Tat smiled brightly floating up in the air.

"Alright, first we got to do some shopping then visit the temple." Leorina smiled at her.

"Okay, nya, let's do it." Tat said with a flame of determination in her eyes. Leorina smiled sheepishly at her before pulling on her boots and making her way to the door of their inn room.

---

"You sure you don't mind skipping classes today?" Leorina asked a little guiltily as she, Tat, and Lion walked through the forest holding all kinds of essentials including some groceries that Leorina thought should be needed to restock Guntz' food storage.

"I don't mind at all, I only go to school every other day going off another day doesn't really make a difference." Lion smiled. Leorina smiled back, but a little sadly.

"You seem to be holding out well, mostly after the bad news four months ago." Leorina said solemnly. Lion looked at her questioningly before she understood what Leorina meant, she frowned looking down thoughtfully.

"Yeah, back then, when Anna-san was Mr. Okami to me, she was mysterious person to me, almost like a sorcerer or something like that. Most of the time she was covered in bandages and she always wore that mask, it made me more curious. This was all before she even knew about my heart failure. Before she found out, she just treated me with certain respect if I left her alone, like my father did. Such a mysterious person only appearing from time to time in this forest I used to run through when I was younger, you know, I used to think that she came here to protect me like a guardian angel." Lion smiled brightly as Leorina.

"Well, technically she was to all of us. She was a really good friend to me when we first met. She actually considered you as a person way more angelic than her." Leorina grinned toothily at Lion making her blush.

"Yeah, when she found out that I was admitted to the hospital during last New Year's Day, she and my father worked so hard to get everything I needed to stay alive. For a whole month, they worked themselves ragged so much that they would keep coming until they were too exhausted to even get out of bed the next day. Mother even ran herself ragged whenever Anna-san got hurt too badly and needed to be taken care of. That was why with the frequent wounds her fever was always constant."

"I see, so that explains why you danced with Anna while she was still Kuroi. I remember when I danced with Guntz he was a little clumsy, but all in all he was such a graceful dancer." Leorina smiled to that nostalgic memory.

"Yeah, that was such a nice memory until that happened." Lion frowned remembering that battle Anna had fought alone against her sisters. She looked so strong and held out without difficulty. But what was so brave of Anna, was sacrificing herself to protect Lion. Lion still remembered watching the girl whom she thought was a boy that she had an actual crush on, stand her ground letting those sharp crystals stab her body mercilessly just for Lion. Then she was strangled to death letting Lion just watch her suffer, it pained Lion to actually watch Anna suffer like that.

It was also painful when she saw her fight her big sister, Kira Suishou. The two looked so hell-bent on killing one another, and the fight they had at the end. It was scary watching Anna and her sister spill each other's blood, Lion thought that the Anna she saw was not even her at all. Then their argument about why they didn't decided to choose another life than this. Lion didn't know what they meant until she saw the decision Anna made in her own memories.

She flinched when she heard Tat say that they were there, she looked up to see Guntz quickly walking into the cabin with a bucket filled with river water. She and Leorina ran to the cabin and opened the door only to surprise and make him spill the bucket of water on top of the bed. He dropped his jaw as he began to sit the girl up on the bed and began to pat her back as she began to cough up the water he dropped on. Angrily, he turned to the girls.

"Damnit, can't you knock?! You almost made me drown her!" He yelled angrily at them.

"Well excuse me! You were the one who told me to come here quick!" Leorina shot back as Guntz nestled the sick girl back into bed.

"Because it's a fucking emergency, now I have to change her clothes again!" he growled angrily at her. Lion looked down to the girl and noticed it was Anna! She was back!

Nya: Voila, Chapter 1 is up, this fic is goin' to be better than the last one I made. Anyway, I'll be putting up the summary and prologue of my novel soon so keeps watching. Anyway, I forgot to say in the prologue that I was in the mood to make a sequel… I was freakin' bored and I can get writer's block for my novel sometimes. X3 Please Review! X3

1: Damn

2: Who or who are you?