Perfectly In The Right Mind

by MiSs LiSsi LisS

YxA AU. Yoh and Anna were best friends, inseparable, that is, until Yoh found out the horrible truth of Anna's step-family and they were separated. Now, nearly 8 years later they meet again. PROLOGUE INCLUDED: tells of their childhood. Please R&R COMPLETE

8. Nostalgia

Dear Reviewers, I LOVE YOU!! : ) Really, thanks so much for reading, I thought maybe my story looked intimidating because it was so long. I'm actually a little surprised that so many of you like long chapters, because me? Not so much XD Well, I mean I like writing long chapters…but I don't have the attention span to read them. I'm little Miss A.D.D. Haha, I'm surprised I get anything done. Usually I write like two pages and then get fidgety and have to come back to it. Well anyway, back to my point. Thanks to all of you who read this! And a very special thank you to all those who review!!

Oh, and I think I may have over dramatized this chapter in the last chapter…maybe, maybe not, I guess that's up for you to decide. I wrote the whole Julie and Anna thing and it didn't come out the way I really intended it to…but I still think its sufficient. Personally, I'm proud of this chapter and I think it came out pretty good and what I wanted. I just hope this is what you wanted!

Ah! I'm sorry, one more interruption: There are probably things in this chapter that don't make sense…or might be a little impossible, but please, just bear it…

Please, Enjoy!

Chapter 7:

"Nostalgia"

It had been just a couple of days since we made up. My anger for her had totally disappeared because she tired to show that she was sorry. She'd tried to help me out more, and she somehow seemed more comfortable. She wasn't moping around anymore and she seemed to smile a little more. More and more she was becoming herself again. Her fear of Haijime and her step-brothers was slowly dissolving and I knew she wanted to be here…with me.

"Yoh?" Anna stood at the doorway of the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Yoh asked while rummaging through the refrigerator.

"Why do you and I have the whole weekend off?"

"Oh," Yoh looked up at her, "I didn't tell you?"

"No." She said slightly irritated as she crossed her arms.

"Oh, that's right…I didn't," he sheepishly laughed as he sat at the kitchen table, "Well I was hoping you'd go on a trip with me."

"A trip?" Anna blinked as she sat down across from Yoh, "To where?"

"Hick Town."

Anna's expression changed from curious to serious.

"Just because," Yoh fiddled around with his cup and then looked at her, "I heard that it's a Ghost Town…and they're going to tear it down and build a shopping center in its stead…or something like that. And I just thought that I'd like to see it one last time. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but I'd like it if you did."

Anna looked down and stared at the table. Yoh could tell she was thinking about it. Her head tilted upwards, but her eyes were still downwards; her lips parted, "That town…it haunts me."

"L-like I said you don't have to…"

"But I…" Anna looked at him, "I do want to go."

Yoh gave a slight smile.

"Who else is going?"

"Just me and you. No Hao, if that's what you're wondering."

Anna gave a slight smile, "That's good…When do we leave, and how are we getting there?"

"I have a morning shift on Friday, but after that, we'll go to my parent's house, and we're going to borrow their car, and drive up there ourselves."

"Yoh! It's Wednesday! You should've told me earlier!" She sighed and let it go, "Anyway, how long will it take us to get there? I've forgotten…"

"Well, since we're leaving after my shift…we will probably get there about mid-day on Saturday…"

"Saturday? It will take a whole day?"

"Yeah, but luckily we have Monday off as well, so if we leave Monday morning, she should be back by night."

"Hm…" Anna stood up, "Well, I have to get to work. We can talk about this more later."

"Alright," Yoh gave her a smile, "Have a good day."

As Anna walked away she gave a slight wave as acknowledgement of what Yoh said. Her mind was clouded with the past. She didn't know how to feel about it. She loved her life before Haijime and his sons came into the picture, but when he did, she hated life. But Haijime's been in her life for more than 7 years, so it was more hate then love, but she felt safe with Yoh. She was sure that Hick Town would haunt her and stir something inside of her, but as long as Yoh was with her, it would be bearable.

"Oi, Anna-chan," Hao said walking up to the front desk, where Anna was at.

"What?" she fiddled with the pen in her hand; not looking at him.

"I thought you'd be in a better mood…"

"Why's that?"

"Because you and Yoh have made up."

Anna looked at Hao, "That was days ago…"

"Don't tell me something else has happened…"

"No."

"Then what's with your mood?"

"I'm always like this…" she quit playing with her pen, "when you come to talk to me."

"Harsh, Anna."

"What is it you've come here for?"

"No doubt Yoh's told you about your trip right?"

"Yes, just this morning."

"This morning?"

"Yes," Anna was getting impatient, "What is it?"

"Are you going to go?"

"Of course, I have to."

"You don't have to," Hao leaned on the desk, "It's your choice. Yoh knows that you might have difficultly going back there, he doesn't want to make you."

"Oh, so Yoh leaves for the weekend and I stay here?"

"Well, I can take care of you in Yoh's stead…" Hao leaned closer.

"I'm not a baby," Anna backed up a little bit, "I can take care of myself!"

"I know," Hao gave a little laugh, "I was just joking."

Anna rolled her eyes.

"So, are you going to go?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure Hao," Anna was annoyed, "I want to visit my mother's grave."

Hao looked at Anna a little shocked, he had forgotten about that.

"I want to go with Yoh," Anna looked away, "Because I don't think I can go there by myself."

"I see…"

"Is that all you came here for?"

"Yeah, I won't bug you anymore," Hao gave a little smile, "Have fun on your trip."

Anna gave little nod as acknowledgement as Hao gave a little wave as he left. Anna resumed her work. It was now about an hour before the end of her shift when she heard an oh-so-familiar voice calling her, "Anna!"

"Why, hello, Julie."

Julie gave a surprised look.

"What?"

"You said my name right!" Julie said with glee as Anna glared slightly.

"Is there something you need help with?" Anna asked with faltering patience.

"I was just wondering…" she adverted her eyes elsewhere and weaved her fingers together. Then she looked at Anna a little shyly, "Um, are you and Yoh on talking terms again?"

Anna felt like rolling her eyes and felt slightly mad at Yoh, "Did Yoh tell you about that?"

"No," Julie shook her head, "I just noticed that you two hadn't been interacting with each other as much."

"And what business is that of yours?"

"I…well, you see," once again her eyes looked elsewhere, "Yoh seemed very unhappy."

Anna's eyebrows lifted slightly. Every time she saw Yoh and Julie together, he seemed to be happy…

"I mean…I would talk to him, and he'd smile and laugh…but I think he was just doing it to humor me. When he stopped, I could see his sad smile…I could tell he was bothered by something."

Anna didn't know how to take this information in, and she didn't exactly know how to respond to it, so she just settled with saying, "Well, we are talking now. Everything's settled."

Julie gave a smile and gave a quick glance at her watch, "Oh, I have to go; I have class, but, Anna…"

Anna had a questioning look on her face.

"I…I'd like to talk to you, if that's all right…and I don't mean like this where we're limited. I don't have class this time tomorrow, do you have work?"

Anna paused; she wasn't too sure if she should agree, but curiosity got the best of her, "No, I don't have work this time tomorrow."

Julie smiled, "Okay! Can you please meet me in the diner around this time?"

Anna nodded. Julie's smile grew a little as she waved a goodbye to Anna. Soon a tint of regret hit her, she was a little nervous too. What did she just get herself into? She should've remembered that curiosity killed that cat.

The rest of the day went by quickly, much to Anna's discontent. Now she suddenly wished it skipped to Friday…who needs Thursdays anyways? She just wanted to be in the car with Yoh right now on their way to the former Hick Town. She needed a break anyway. It seemed that she was bombarded by questions today and she just wanted to get away. Tomorrow was probably going to be the same; Julie would probably ask her like a million questions.

"Tadaima," she said as she entered her home.

"Okaeri, Anna!" she heard Yoh say, "Did you have a good day at work?"

"Eh," Anna said coming down the stairs, "It was okay except for the part where people kept asking me questions."

"Oh? Who?"

Anna decided she wouldn't bring Julie into this more than she had to, "Hao. He kept asking me if it was all right if I went on the trip with you and if I wanted to go."

"Do you?"

"Oh, now it's your turn to ask me questions?"

"Oh, well, uh," Yoh laughed sheepishly, "I just wanted to make sure."

Anna plopped on the couch, "I do, in fact…can we just leave now?"

Yoh laughed as he stood behind the couch down looking down at her, "You and I both have work tomorrow."

"You're the boss," her eyebrows furrowed, "Call it off."

"You know I can't do that…"

Anna's pout turned into a glare.

"Anna…don't give me that face…" he leaned a little closer.

"I'll give you whatever face I want."

Yoh blinked, "Something tells me that you're not looking forward to tomorrow…"

"Hmph." Anna looked away, "Never mind…I'll wait until Friday to leave."

"Do you really want to go that bad?"

Anna got up and headed toward the staircase, "I need a break…I just want to go."

"Anna, if you've got something bothering you, you know you can talk to me."

"I know, Yoh," she headed upstairs, "I'm tired…I think I'll go to bed early."

"Oh, okay, Anna," Yoh smiled, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Yoh," she said as she reached the top of the staircase, "Don't worry about me Yoh, I'm fine. I just want a break from work and stuff."

"Okay, Anna," she heard him say before she entered her room. She hoped he wasn't suspicious; she just really didn't want to talk to Julie and that was going to ruin her whole Thursday. She was somewhat afraid of what Julie would say and decided that it would be best not to hear it…but it was already too late. Anna sighed as she laid down for bed, "Please let tomorrow go by quickly."

Yoh stared at the top of the staircase and frowned…he wondered if she was really all right. Then he frowned more, "I am a worry-wart…"

The next day went by very quickly indeed…it seemed to go straight to the point where Anna was supposed to meet Julie. Anna actually wasn't that nervous anymore; she just had little patience and wanted to get this over with. She walked into the diner and looked for the blonde beauty. There she was, sitting down, she wasn't hard to find at all. So Anna walked over to the table and sat across from Julie.

"Hungry?" Julie asked.

Anna shook her head, "You?"

Julie shook her head. She looked at Anna and she looked at Julie. Brown eyes met Blue, Strawberries and Champagne met Love Spell, "You're probably wondering why I asked you here…"

"Yes."

"Well…" Julie's eyes looked to the side, then they looked back at Anna, "What is Yoh to you? Are you two together?"

Anna paused. She definitely wasn't expecting that question, "No, we're childhood friends."

"I see…"

"Why did you want to know?"

"Well, because…." Julie avoided eye contact yet again. Her voice got quiet, "I like Yoh."

Anna's eyes widened. She tried to hold it in, but she couldn't. She already knew that Julie liked Yoh, but to hear Julie actually admit it was a shocker. Why? What was Julie's reason for telling her this? Anna didn't know how to respond, she opened her mouth hoping that something would just come out, but nothing did.

After seeing Anna's struggle with words, Julie decided to speak, "I like him, I don't know how he feels about me."

Anna was slightly angered. Even thought she knew that Julie liked Yoh, but just hearing her say it made her angry, yet……somehow she felt admiration for Julie being able to orally admit her feelings. Lord knows she never could. But anger overrode the admiration and Anna didn't know what to say. She knew that Yoh liked someone…he said so himself, she just didn't know who. Deep down she wanted it to be herself, but it probably wasn't. Now Anna was hurt. Her face showed none of these expressions, but in the inside she was so confused. What was she to do? What could she say? "Wh-why are you telling me this, Julia?"

"Julie," she frowned, "Isn't it obvious? There's a possibility that Yoh likes you, and not me. And I…I don't want to get in the way if Yoh likes you and you like Yoh. You're childhood friends, and I can't get between that bond. B-but…" Julie looked Anna in the eye. Blue and Brown clashed, "But if you're not going to do anything about it, then I will! I like Yoh, and I want him to be happy and smile, because that fits him best! I can do that! But…but you…you're always frowning and aloof! His smile is faltering…! A-and if you're not going to anything to keep up that smile then…then…" Julie's strong wind suddenly became mild as she saw the glare coming from the brown, piercing her blue.

"Don't you dare talk to me like you know me, Julie," Anna's glare stayed strong, "You have no idea what Yoh and I have been through. I've had hardships like you wouldn't believe, and obviously I'm not the happiest person around, but I can still make Yoh smile! I know Yoh…I may have spent more years apart from him then I did with him, but that's still longer then you've known him!" Anna stood up, the glare never faltering; the brown was still locked on the blue, "I may not be the one Yoh likes, but I'm not going to stop being near him. I am me when I'm with him, and that's all I need. Yoh understands me, and I understand him. Yoh's smile won't falter!"

Julie sat there struck with the powerful words Anna just threw at her. Anna now glared elsewhere and it was like Julie's eyes were free. Her brows furrowed, "Anna, do you like Yoh?"

Anna stood quiet, still glaring off into space.

"Well then I'm no different then you Anna. I may not be the one Yoh likes, but I'm not going to stop being near him either. He was my first real friend here in Japan. If he chooses you, then I will accept it. But he hasn't chosen you yet, so I won't stand down." Then Julie stood up. Anna didn't look at her, and she didn't look at Anna. There stood there for a short while until Julie decided to say, "See you later, Anna."

Anna didn't respond as Julie walked off. Anna's glared slowly left, but not fully. She sat down and crossed her arms. She couldn't think straight right now. Her mind only had two things in it: anger and Julie. But Anna knew for sure that she wouldn't be able to stand it if Yoh chose Julie over her.

She sighed as she got up. She really needed that break now. Tomorrow couldn't some soon enough. As she started to walk back to her room, she almost laughed when yesterday she thought that this talk that she and Julie would have might make them closer. If anything, it made her distaste for her stronger. Julie was probably not too fond of Anna anymore either.

"Anna?" Yoh called from the front desk when she walked passed it.

Anna abruptly turned around.

"Are you okay? You seem a little upset."

"No. I'm just tired," she said in an un-calming voice, "I think I'll go to bed early again. We have a long day tomorrow."

Yoh nodded, then opened his mouth, "Did you talk to Julie? She walked out off the diner as well…she also seemed a little upset."

Anna frowned.

"Should I take that as a 'yes'?"

"Yoh, I'm not having a good day. Please don't make me explain it."

"Oh, okay," Yoh frowned, "I won't make you."

She saw his frown and she frowned. Julie's words rung in her mind; his smile was faltering, "Don't look at me like that. Julie and I had…'girl talk'. So I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

"Oh…" Yoh was slightly confused, but gave a little smile anyway, "…okay."

"Well, I'm going to go pack and go to bed early," Anna started to turn to leave, "So if you're not home before I go to bed, then Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Anna," Yoh smiled.

With that Anna left. She just needed to keep her mind off the whole Julie subject. It had never really occurred in Anna's mind before that Yoh's smile was faltering. The way Julie had said it made it sound like Yoh always smiled before, but when Anna came, his smile started to falter. Was it her fault? But…if Yoh didn't want her there then he wouldn't have asked her to stay and he wouldn't have invited her to the trip tomorrow. Stupid Julie, she didn't know anything.

Anna left the subject at that and decided to enter her room and start packing. The talk with Julie still somewhat bugged in the back of her mind, so she decided that she should just sleep the matter off and finish packing tomorrow. She changed and slipped into bed and dismissed the subject.

The next day, Anna woke up late. She didn't have work, so it felt good to sleep in. She got up and stretched a bit. Then she left her room to walk into the kitchen to find a note left by Yoh. It had told her that he left for work, and what time he gets off and what time they were going to leave. Anna's eyes shifted from the letter to the clock. That gave her 3 hours.

She decided to have something to eat and then finish packing. When she was finished packing, she decided to take a quick bath. When she came back, Yoh was already home, finishing up his packing.

"Hey, Anna," he greeted, "Almost ready?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Uh-huh. We have to walk over to my parents' house to pick up the car though."

"Okay, well I'm ready when you are."

"Alright, then we'll leave in a bit, 'kay?"

"Got it."

Yoh grabbed a couple more things and then picked up his bag, "I'll carry your bag if you want."

"No, it's alright, I got it," she said picking up her bag, "Luckily your parents don't live too far."

Yoh smiled, "Let's go."

Anna nodded as they made their way out. Before leaving the inn, Yoh stopped at the front desk where Hao was, "I can trust you to run this inn for the weekend, right?"

"Who do you take me for? Of course I can," Hao crossed his arms, then he smirked, "have fun on your little trip into nostalgia. Behave you two."

Anna gave a glare, then Yoh gave a 'grow-up' look, "I think you're the one who has to behave."

Hao laughed, "Whatever, just get going you two! You don't want it to take the rest of today and half of tomorrow, do you?"

"Alright, then we're off!" Yoh smiled, "See ya later, Hao."

"See ya little brother," then Hao smiled at Anna, "Bye, Anna-chan!"

Anna gave another little glare, "Stop calling me that. You know I'm going to see your parents right now…I can tell them all about your girlfriends……"

"Anna!" Hao yelped.

Anna gave a satisfied smirk, "Be seein' ya, Hao. Behave."

"Speak for yourself!" He yelled out while Yoh and Anna exited the inn.

They started off on their walk to Yoh's parents' house and there was a comfortable silence between the too. As they got closer to their destination, Yoh decided to speak, "Are you excited?"

"Anxious is more like it."

"Oh, well, I'm excited. I wonder if my house still looks the same or if it's even still there."

"Yoh?" Anan asked as they approached the house.

"Hm?" He stood on the steps as he looked back at Anna.

"Let's…visit our spot again. If it's there…"

Yoh smiled, "Sure thing, Anna."

"Yoh?" the door opened to show Keiko's expecting face, "There you are! Oh, hello, Anna-chan!"

"Hello Auntie Keiko," Anna slightly nodded.

"You act as if we're late!" Yoh said while coming through the door.

"Well, I thought you'd come by earlier! You won't get there until tomorrow at this rate!"

"That's okay, mom," he said while putting down his bag and then helped Anna with hers, "we understand that."

Mikihisa then entered the room with the car keys in his hand, "Ah, there you are!"

"Hey, Dad."

"Hello Uncle Miki."

"Hello Anna-chan! Has my boys been behaving?"

Anna's eyes went to Yoh, "Well…"

"Anna!" Yoh laughed, "Of course I've been behaving!"

Anna gave a small smile, "Hao's the one you have to worry about."

Mikihisa laughed while Keiko sighed, "Oh, that Hao…! We'll have to keep an eye on him…especially since Anna-chan won't be there to keep him in check."

Yoh laughed a "you've got that right" while Mikihisa handed Yoh the car keys, "Here. Drive safely son."

Yoh nodded, "Thanks. We'd better get going. I'll return the car Monday."

Mikihisa nodded while Keiko gasped, "Just a second!" She left the room, but then quickly came back, "Here. Take this with you." She handed Anna a photo album, "This is from when we used to live in Hick Town."

Anna smiled.

"You can look at it when you're on the rode, since it's a long drive."

"Thanks Auntie Keiko," Anna gave a smile.

Keiko smiled, "Have a fun trip you two!"

Yoh nodded as he hugged his parents goodbye and Anna did the same, "See you later!"

They walked to the car and put their bags into the trunk. Then Yoh unlocked the doors and they slipped in. They put on their seat belts and Yoh put the key in. He looked at her, "Ready?"

Anna silently swallowed, "Ready."

And they were off.

The drive had started at a slow pace, but steadily got faster. Yoh turned on the radio and Anna looked out of the window. The photo album was on her lap, every now and then she's glance down at it, like she was afraid to see what was inside. But after the scenery on the freeway got boring, Anna decided she'd look through it. It was a rather large photo album; it was probably filled with their time at Hick Town. The album was blue with the name ASAKURA in gold letters. She traced the letters before opening the book.

The first page was filled with pictures of Yoh and Hao's first day of school. It showed them in their uniforms and their backpacks. Hao was smiling while Yoh was looking rather nervous. She gave a soft smile as she turned the page. Most of the first few pages were just of Hao and Yoh, until a couple pages later, there she was. There was a picture of Yoh smiling from ear to ear while Anna had small smile on her face. They were only about 5 and Anna almost laughed when he saw Yoh's toothy grin; a few teeth were missing.

Every page from them on, Anna was in…maybe not every picture, but at least one picture per page. There was a picture of the 3 of them. It was Hao, Yoh and Anna. Yoh was in the middle smiling from ear to ear, while Hao and Anna had their arms crossed, glaring at each other. They were about 7 then. Then there was a picture where Anna was on a swing, while Yoh was pushing her. Though her hair was in her face, you could see her joyful smile. She was looking back at Yoh probably exclaiming, "Higher!" while Yoh happily smiled in return. Her fingers grazed the picture. What she wouldn't give to go back to those days. It had been so long…all she could remember from her past was the sorrow and pain, not the joy, but when she saw these, she realized her childhood wasn't so bad.

Soon it came to the point where Anna was in pretty much all the photos. They had pictures of everything: them eating ice cream, at the park, swimming at the lake, everything…there was even one that Anna tried to forget. The one where it was Yoh's birthday, and her mother thought it would be cute if Anna gave him a birthday kiss on the cheek, so not wanting to disagree with her mother, she did it. Just then Keiko had snapped the picture and that moment was captured forever. Anna felt a blush coming on so she quickly turned the page; thank goodness Yoh was driving.

This next picture made her stop. It was a picture of her and her mother. Her mother was smiling and Anna was smiling. She was so beautiful, her mother of course. They looked so much alike except Anna's mother had hazel eyes, while Anna had a dark shade of brown. Her mother also had beautiful blonde hair that was usually pulled back into a messy bun, but in this picture, it was down and long. Anna's fingers grazed the picture lightly. She missed her mom so much.

"You know, you look like her," Yoh said, startling Anna.

"What?" She didn't know he had been sneaking peeks.

"You look like Auntie Annabelle," he repeated.

Anna looked at herself in the mirror, then at the picture of her mother. She didn't look anything like her mother. Her mother was a pure, angelic woman. Anna looked in the mirror, disgusted at herself, she was a dirty forsaken being. Sure many may think she was pretty, but that wasn't true beauty they were seeing, it was their own lust. Her mother was beautiful inside out. Anna was a one-way shell.

"You know, what I always thought was most beautiful about your mom was her smile," Yoh turned towards Anna, "You've got that same smile."

Anna stared at Yoh, he almost expected the words "are you serious?"

"You do, Anna," he smiled at her, "You just don't do it enough to realize it."

Anna looked back at the picture and gave a little smile at she traced her mother's face, "Remind me to thank Auntie Keiko for letting me see this."

Yoh smiled and turned his attention fully back to the rode. She smiled as she turned the page, but then the smile turned into a frown when it was pictures from her mother and Haijime's wedding. There were pictures of Yoh and Hao in their tuxes and Anna in her dress. Anna was the flower girl and Yoh was the ring barer. There was a picture of her mother and Haijime. Annabelle did not have her beautiful smile, she had a sad one and behind the foundation and the eye-shadow and lipstick, there were bruises and cuts.

Anna quickly turned the page. The next few pictures of her were sad. She kept looking through to see her face get worse and worse until she was no longer in the pictures. She had also noticed that Yoh's smile was also slowly disappearing. His smile was faltering. She closed the album when she reached the end.

She stared at the word ASAKURA. A small smile graced her lips. She was all over this photo album like she was part of the family. She wished so badly that she was. The Asakuras have always made her and her mother feel part of the family and she secretly wished that when her mother died, Yoh's family would adopt her. She smiled as she traced the letters and whispered, "Asakura Anna…"

"Huh?" Yoh asked, "Did you say something?"

"Asakura…" she said louder, still tracing the letters, "…I like that name."

Yoh smiled as they continued their way to Hick Town. Anna continued to stare out the window, while Yoh, of course, continued to drive. It had now been hours and it was starting to get rather dark. Anna had fallen asleep and Yoh gave a light laugh. She was so cute when she slept. Anna must've been pretty tired though, because she didn't wake up until they reached the hotel that they would be staying at for the night. Anna tiredly got out of the car and yawned. She went to get a room while Yoh got the bags out.

Anna got the keys to the room and they made their way to it. Upon entering, they saw that the room only had one bed. It wasn't exactly what they were expecting, but it wasn't a problem. They were used to this by now. So the two got ready for bed, Yoh finished first and crawled into bed and then when Anna was done, he lifted the sheets for her like he's always done.

"Still no new pajamas, huh?" Yoh chuckled.

"Shut up," she said turning towards him, "You have to buy me some, remember?"

Yoh laughed mumbling a "that's right". He got comfortable and faced her, "Goodnight, Anna."

"Goodnight, Yoh," she said slowly as she closed her eyes.

"Sweet dreams," he said softly.

Anna's eyes were still closed as she smiled and whispered a "You too."

Yoh closed his eyes. He was happy that the last thing he saw before drifting off the sleep was her beautiful smile. He knew that this trip was a good idea. He was hoping that Anna and he could reminisce together about when they were little. He was hoping that he could show her the good in her childhood instead of the bad. If Anna could realize that, then maybe she could get back to being her old self and smile and feel safe, because that was most important.

Yoh and Anna were woken up by an annoying beeping sound. Yoh hit the snooze button on the alarm and mumbled something. Anna rubbed her eyes and sat up slightly. She looked over at Yoh and gave a slight smile at his sleeping face. He must've been tired from work and the long drive yesterday. She would've offered to drive for a little while; the only problem was she didn't know how to drive. So instead she decided that she'd wake him up after she got ready. She leaned over him to turn the alarm off. Then she lowered her head to whisper to him, "You sleep while I get ready, okay? I'll wake you up when I'm done."

As she lifted her head up and was about ready to get out of bed, she felt a tugging at her shirt. She looked over to Yoh, whose eyes were closed, "Thank you."

"You need this sleep," she said as his fingers let go of her shirt.

Anna got up and decided to take a long shower, just so Yoh could get a longer rest; it wasn't like Anna didn't enjoy it either. She waited until she was fully ready to wake Yoh. She tapped him and told him to wake up.

Yoh moaned, "You're done already? That hardly felt like anything!"

"Sorry. I took as long as I could."

Yoh got up and stretched, "No, its good you woke me up, we shouldn't have slept in this late." He got up and gathered a few things before entering the bathroom.

"Oh, Yoh, I'm going to step out for a bit, okay?"

"Where to?"

"Never mind, just get ready."

Yoh gave a slight laugh as he entered the bathroom and Anna walked out. Anna was actually stepping out so that she could get some breakfast for the two of them. When she returned, Yoh was out of the shower, gathering his stuff. He turned to her, "There you are!"

Anna held up a bag and said, rather unenthusiastically, "I come baring gifts."

Yoh laughed, "What's that?"

"Food," she put the bag on the table.

"Oh, thanks," he said, "But we should really get going, "It's already very late."

"How long till we get there?" she asked while rummaging through the bag.

"About 2 more hours."

"Oh, well that's not too bad," she said handing him an orange, "it's only 10. We'll get there by noon or a little later."

Yoh happily accepted the orange, "Alright, but once we're done eating, we gotta get going."

"Sure," Anna said while taking out an apple. Yoh sat at the table with her a smiled. She bit into her apple and then decided to say, "What are we doing first?"

"Well, I figured we could see the town as how it's changed, and we could visit our old houses," he struggled to peel his orange, "Do you have anything special you have in mind?"

Anna took the orange from his hands and started to peel it, "Not really, I just want to see my mother's grave, but I think I want to wait until tomorrow…"

She handed him the orange that she had started to peel for him. He mumbled a few words of gratitude and then said, while finishing the peeling, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, we'll do whatever you want to today," she bit into her apple.

Yoh smiled as he took a piece of his orange, "Okay."

The rest of their breakfast was in silence until they finished up and got their things ready to go. They packed everything in the car and then left. In only a couple of hours, they'd be in the bittersweet town of their childhood. They were blest to met each other but cursed to meet Haijime. They didn't know how to feel about the town of their birth; both the best and worst times of their lives were spent there. They weren't sure if they were happy or scared to return; nervous or anxious.

The two hours went by very quickly to Anna and Yoh, probably because the scenery changed from beautiful buildings to almost nothing. No one was out here and there were hardly any streetlights. The scenery changed so much, the building changed to trees and then the trees were changed from very lively to hardly alive at all. Things seemed so desolate. Hick Town was truly a Ghost Town now.

They had arrived, the once lush grasses of the farmlands were now dead and dry, but it seemed they were holding on for some kind of hope. The grass kept growing and it was still as tall as they had remembered. Yoh parked his car and they got out. They started at the town in front of them; this was Hick Town.

Both Yoh and Anna opened their mouths, but nothing came out. There was so much they wanted to see and remember, but so little time. Anna held the photo album in her arms and held it close to her chest. She wanted to revisit every spot that was captured in that memorable book. She suddenly wanted to run and frolic through the grass, but she was a different person now. How could she possibly do that?

"…wow…" was all Yoh could think to say. They looked around; instead of seeing the dead grass, they saw green grass where children were running through. They saw themselves laughing and running. This is their childhood. For so long they kept it suppressed deep within themselves that they almost forgot about it. They only remembered the bad things, and now, looking at this town they remembered everything, including the good. They couldn't run anymore, they were here, and they had to face their past.

"Excuse me?" a scruffy voice interrupted their thoughts and made them jump, "May I ask what you're doing here?"

They turned to see an old man who still had little white tuffs of hair on his head and a mustache and beard. Yoh decided to speak, "Oh, sorry to bother you. We're just visiting. We heard that Hick Town was going to be torn down and we wanted to visit it before it happened."

"'Hick Town'?" The man repeated, "I see, you must've lived here from before, right?"

"Right," Yoh nodded, "It's all right that we're here, right, Mister…uh…"

"Aoyama. I'm Aoyama Togashi," He introduced himself.

"I'm Asakura Yoh and she's Kyoyama Anna," he pointed to Anna while she gave a slight nod, "We used to live here about 8 years ago."

"I see," he ran a finger through his white beard, "So you want one last visit of the town?"

"Yes, is that all right?"

"Well I suppose. You two look like a nice couple," he smiled at the two, "Let me guess, you met here and were childhood sweethearts? And now you're here to reminisce?"

"Something like that," Yoh gave a slight laugh.

"Well then here," Mr. Aoyama gave Yoh the keys, "This is a key to every house and building here. They're all labeled, so you don't have to worry about scrambling around looking for the key to your old house."

"Wh-what?" Yoh was a little confused, "Why would you give us these keys so willingly?"

"Well I could tell just by the way you two were staring at this place how much it means to you. I've never really thought much of this run-down town, I've never even lived here, but when I saw you two's looks, it made me have a little hope of this town. To me it just seemed down right creepy," he looked around, "Besides, what are you going to do? If you trash the town it wouldn't matter, they're just going to tear it down anyway. And in any case, you two look like an honest couple."

"B-but, how do we return these to you?"

"Well it depends on how long you're stayin'."

"We're going to be here until Monday morning."

"Well then I'll meet you here at this spot on Monday," he gave a little smile, "Don't worry so much, kid. This is a Ghost Town, it wouldn't matter if I never got the keys back. I was just given them to check to see if any thing such as money or important valuables were left in any of the banks or houses."

"Oh," Yoh looked at all the keys, "I will return them though, so I'll meet you here on Monday."

Mr. Aoyama laughed as he started to walk away, "Well have fun, kids."

Yoh smiled, "Thanks so much Mr. Aoyama!"

"Oh," he stopped in his tracks and turned to them, "I have you warn you."

"About what?" Yoh looked up from looking at all the keys.

"About the haunted house."

"Haunted house?" Yoh almost laughed.

"Yes, it's far off from here, but it's got long, tall grass and a 'For Sale' sign out in the front," this sounded familiar to them, Anna's eyes widened, "It looks unkempt and ridged. It looks like no one's lived there for almost a decade. People believed someone died in there and no one will go near it. You should probably already know about this since you lived here before, but I'm just warning you anyway. I'm not superstitious much, but even being around that house creeps me out," he turned to leave, "Well, see ya later."

Yoh's eyes widened and Anna's bangs covered her eyes. She waited until the man was out of their sight to speak, "So my house is the classic 'haunted house', huh?"

Yoh looked sympathetically at Anna, "Anna…"

"Let's visit my house last, okay? Like…tomorrow."

"Okay," he didn't know what else to do but comply.

She held the photo album tighter, "So what now?"

Yoh jingled the keys, "How about we visit the school?"

Anna slowly looked up, "Alright."

They decided that they'd drive; Yoh had always wanted to drive on the dirt roads of Hick Town, but nothing was ever too far. The drive to the school was 8 minutes tops, which was practically nothing since they always had to walk to school. Once he parked the car, Yoh and Anna got out. Anna brought along her tote bag that was filled with snacks for their lunch. Once fully out of the car, they stared at the building in front of them; it seemed so much bigger when they were younger. Yoh rummaged through the keys until he found the one labeled "school". He unlocked the main door and they entered. There school was always pretty small, due to the fact that not many people lived in Hick Town.

They looked around at the lockers and at the classrooms. The doors to the classrooms weren't even locked. They walked in a classroom and sat down the desks that they used to have to sit in. They hated this class actually. It was math class and they could've sworn that their teacher was Satan's wife. She always made them sit in alphabetical order, so that meant Yoh always had to sit right behind his brother, and he was always rows away from Anna.

Yoh lifted the desk top to see that were was little scraps of paper that had math problems on it and run down pencils. He smiled as he picked one up and started to write something. Anna sat in her desk, wondering what Yoh was doing. She sat up straight with her hands folded neatly on the desk like she used to do back in this class. She gave a slight smile when she realized what Yoh was doing.

Yoh folded his paper into a paper airplane and aimed for Anna. Anna, playing the part, pretended to be paying attention to class when suddenly a paper airplane landed on her desk. She looked down and opened it:

DEAR ANNA:

MATH IS SOOOO BORING!! I WISH WE SAT TOGETHER. I DON'T GET ANY OF THIS! CAN YOU HELP ME? PUH-LEASE? : )

Anna smiled and she looked at Yoh who gave one of his goofy grins. Then he looked expectantly at Anna, waiting for her answer. She took out a pencil from her desk and quickly wrote, then she sent the plane back to him. Yoh smiled as he opened it:

NO : P

Yoh's face dropped as he saw her answer. Anna couldn't help but laugh when she saw his face. He looked up at her from the paper with heartbroken eyes, while she simply stuck out her tongue.

"Anna! How can you be so cruel?!"

She put a finger to her lips to quiet him down, then said, "Get your brother to help you."

"I don't want his help! He's mean and doesn't help, he just insults me!"

"And I won't?"

"Anna…" Yoh pretended to slump his shoulders, then leaned his head on his desk "You're so cruel…"

Anna smiled as she took out another piece of paper and wrote on it. When she was done, she sent it flying and it hit Yoh on the head. He opened it:

A heart was drawn.

Yoh smiled when he saw the heart. He looked over at her, she wasn't looking at him, instead she was playing with a strand of hair. He smiled as he looked at her, her eyes drifted from her hair to meet his eyes; she smiled, and he smiled. And in their minds, the bell rang, and class was over. They got up and right now, in their minds, they weren't 17 and 18, but 7 and 8. Yoh waited at the door for Anna and they walked out together. It was lunch time.

They made their way to the field area where they used to have lunch. They were a little surprised to see that there were still some healthy parts of grass on the field. They decided to sit where they always used to. Luckily there was still the tree that they used to sit under. Provided that the tree now was dead and empty, it was still nice to sit under. Fortunately, it was cloudy today and not sunny. The tree hardly had any branches or leaves and it wouldn't do much to provide them with shade.

Anna took out some snacks; an apple and an orange, "Sorry, it's the same as this morning."

"S'ok, I don't think I could ever get tired of oranges."

"Oh, I also bought these this morning," she took out some chips, "It was initially for the drive, but I think it'll be all right to eat it now."

So they sat and had there lunch under the tree. It had been a while, and then the wind blew some of the very few of the leaves the tree had left. A leaf landed on Yoh's head and little flower petals flew into Anna's hair. They looked at each other. Anna reached up a hand to take the leaf out of Yoh's hair. When she was done, he did the same for her. He took a few petals out and let the wind sweep them away. Then he took out the last, beautiful petal and put it gently on her nose. She smiled a bit, but then the wind took the petal.

"I wish I had a camera," Yoh said a little regrettably, "We could have a photo album of our own."

"We'll just have to remember this trip for ourselves," Anna said, putting the snacks away, "We can't let each other forget."

Yoh smiled and nodded. Then he took a look at his watch; they had already been out there for about an hour, "Wow, I forgot how fast time moves in this town. Well, what do you want to do now?"

Anna looked at the photo album in her bag, "Let's…go to the park…"

Yoh smiled, "Alright. First, let's drop the car off at my old house, and we'll walk to the park."

Anna nodded as she got up, Yoh soon followed. They walked out of the school, taking one last look through the halls and classrooms. When they were done, they got into the car and drove to his house. Luckily, he had still remembered how to get there despite it being nearly a decade. He parked in the driveway, just like he's always wanted to when he lived there so long ago. He smiled as he turned towards Anna, "You wouldn't mind if we step in for a bit?"

Anna shook her head, "We can drop off our stuff here."

Yoh nodded, "Good idea."

They went to the trunk to get out their stuff. He stood on the lawn and smiled. His home didn't look too different. He proceeded forward onto the steps of the porch, then he stopped, searching for the key. Luckily, the locks hadn't changed and it was easy to find. He opened the door and smiled once again as he saw that his old home had not changed very much. Sure the furniture may be re-arranged (but there was hardly any furniture at all) and the wall may be a different color, but it still smelled the same and was not re-modeled.

"Let's drop this off in my room," He turned his head towards Anna.

Anna nodded, if she had to guess, she'd guess that he was excited.

Yoh made his way down the hallway and to the second door on the left: his and Hao's room. He opened the door to see it almost exactly the way he had remembered it. There was Hao's bed and his bed. Yoh put his stuff down as he went over to his old bed. He laid on it belly-flat and used his jacket as a pillow. He closed his eyes and sighed a relieved sigh as he felt the familiar nostalgia that was over-flowing in him. He opened his eyes to see Anna standing by the window, "Anything wrong, Anna?"

Anna opened the window and looked down, "I used to have to stand on my tip-toes to be able to knock on this window."

Yoh sat up and smiled, "You don't have to crawl in the window anymore."

Anna turned toward him and smiled.

Yoh patted a spot next to him, "You'll be sleeping here tonight."

"And you?" she asked as she made her way to the bed.

"Beside you of course," he gave his goofy smile as Anna sat next to him.

Anna gave him a gentle smile as he returned it. Then he softly said, "Let's go to the park before the sun sets."

Anna nodded as they got up and prepared to walk to the park. They didn't worry about locking the house or anything because no one was there. They walked along the dirt rode. They didn't say anything, but they somehow knew what the other was thinking. Flashbacks entered their mind very quickly. When they were about 5 was the first time they went together, racing each other to the park while their moms stood behind and laughed. Then they remembered the first time they walked to the park by themselves. Their mothers were against it, they were only 7, but they did it anyway. They were pretty sure they knew the way, but just in case, Yoh took a hold of Anna's tiny little hand. Anna was shocked at first and attempted to pull away, but when she saw his little sheepish smile, she allowed it and they somehow made it to the park without any casualties.

Yoh laughed out loud at that little thought. Anna looked at Yoh with an eyebrow raised. He turned to her, "I was just thinking of the first time we walked by ourselves to the park."

Anna looked at him, "Oh." Her eyes widened slightly as she remembered exactly what happened. Then she remembered what happened afterwards, "We got in so much trouble."

"Yeah," Yoh laughed, "Luckily the park wasn't that far…but we still lot in a lot of trouble. But after that whole deal, our parents somehow let us walk home from school by ourselves."

"I know, how does that work out?"

Yoh laughed and then looked forward, "Oh! There's the park!"

Anna looked over to see the site…everything looked pretty old and rusted, but everything was still there, "Do you think it's safe?"

"Sure!" Yoh said, getting excited, "Wanna run?"

"What?" Anna asked as if he was crazy.

"We don't have to have a race or anything," he shrugged, "I just feel like running. I feel like I haven't run in a long time."

"I don't even remember the last time I ran."

"You were pretty fast when we were little too," Yoh smiled at her, "We could've been track buddies."

Anna nodded a little, "Alright, you can run…but don't laugh at me when I'm way behind."

"I won't run too fast," Yoh got into running position, "C'mon, Anna!"

Anna's expression turned a little reluctant, but got into a running position, "Are you ready?"

Yoh nodded eagerly.

"GO!"

And they were off. Yoh glided across the dirt road with a smile on his face, but he tried not to run too fast. Anna was slightly behind him as she looked at his face. They were getting closer to the park and she smirked. Yoh questioned her look while she, with all her might, bolted straight ahead, beating Yoh to the park.

She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Mou…" Yoh said, catching his breath, "That was not fair…"

"You should've learned by now," she was out of breath, "You always fall for that. You feel sorry for me, so you slow down, but then I beat you to it."

Yoh sheepishly smiled, "You're right…how could I forget?"

She finally caught her breath, "What first?"

Yoh stared at the park and saw them running around as kids, "The swings…"

Anna gave a little smile, "I was thinking the same thing…"

They made their way to the swings and Anna sat down, she was prepared to swing her until she felt Yoh holding onto her chains, pulling her back. She turned her head to look up at him. Before she could say anything, Yoh decided to speak, "I'll start you off, is that okay?"

Anna gave a small smile and nodded as she looked forward. He pulled her back and let go, she went pretty high for just starting. He pushed her and her smile started to widen. Her hair flew to and fro but she didn't care. A somewhat new sensation spread throughout her, she felt free. She just wanted to go higher and higher, in an attempt to fly free. She couldn't help but utter out, "Higher!"

Yoh smiled and un-hesitantly complied. He gave her a forceful push and she indeed go high. She was so high it almost seemed like she'd flip over the bar. Anna couldn't help but laugh a little. Yoh smiled; that's all he wanted out of this trip.

"Join me!" Anna said while swinging.

Yoh nodded as he got on the swing beside her and started off slowly. He ended up going pretty high, but not as high as Anna. At one point they started to swing at the same time. He looked at her and she looked at him. His smile grew as he saw her face. Not only was she smiling, but she was smiling showing off her pearly whites. Her hair covered her face most of the time, but he did see it. He saw the loveliness in her face and began swinging a little slower.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Huh?" He was brought out of his trance.

"You're slowing down. Are you tired?" Anna started to slow down, "We'll do something else if you want."

"Ah! N-no," Yoh started to push himself to go higher, "Nothing's wrong."

Anna's eyebrows furrowed as she didn't seem to believe him. She started to get slower, and then soon, she gracefully jumped off. She turned towards him with her hand on her hips. He took it as a sign and slowed down to jump off. Yoh landed and then looked at Anna. Her hands left her hips, "What now?"

"You know, I was never good the monkey bars, let's go."

Anna nodded as they went to the monkey bars only to smirk when she looked at them and then at Yoh.

"Not fair," he said, standing next to them. He was taller then the monkey bars. He took a hold of one of the bars and bent his knees to pick himself up, only to find that his knees touched the ground, "Great."

Anna went to the other side, she was shorter than Yoh, but she was about as tall as the monkey bars, so when she bent her knees, they lifted slightly above the ground. She started to swing herself to the side where Yoh was. It didn't take her very long at all.

"Show off," Yoh pouted, "You were always too good."

Anna smirked as she let go of the bars, "We're too big for everything now. You're too tall to go down the slide."

Yoh didn't stop pouting, "I never thought growing tall would be such a drag. I always thought of the pros instead of the cons."

"Well, make a list. Here's your first one."

Yoh laughed as he looked behind him and saw the position of the sun, "But there's one thing I will never out-grow…"

"What's that?"

"Follow me," he said as he got up.

Anna nodded as she got up. She had a feeling of where they were going. They made their way down the dirt road that looked oh-so-familiar. Anna smiled as she looked along the road. Yoh looked at his shoes, something he hadn't done in a while. He watched the dirt gather on it. He smirked. His shoes didn't need to be amazing anymore.

Finally, they saw something twinkling in a distance. They were close alright. Their paced quickened a little as a big tree was coming closer and closer. They looked at the grass, it was a little faded, but it was still green. Yoh looked at the tree and patted it, "Nope, I will never be too tall for this." He said as he climbed the tree. Once settled, he turned to help Anna up.

"It's been so long…" she whispered as she climbed up the tree. She scooted closer to Yoh and ran her hands along the bark, "It still feels the same."

"The view's still the same too," he said looking at the water twinkle as the sun started to come closer to it.

"Did you still come here, after I moved away?"

"Yes," Yoh looked down, "I came by myself sometimes after school to reminisce. It wasn't the same at all…it was very lonely; I stopped coming after a while."

"I thought of this place a lot," she stared at the lake, "Wherever I was, I wished that I was here instead…" then she whispered, "…with you." Then she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Yoh gently leaned his head on hers and smiled, "Me too."

They watched the sunset in a sweet silence. Nothing needed to be said and words could only ruin the moment. Time seemed to pass by quickly, yet slowly and soon the sun wasn't even in the sky anymore. Instead of the sun being reflected off the waters, now it was stars, but it was just a beautiful.

"It's getting late," Yoh lifted his head, "We should probably start heading back."

Anna lifted her head and looked around, "I forgot how dark it gets around here."

"Yeah, there are hardly any streetlights. We should get back before it gets too dark."

"Alright."

Yoh jumped down the tree and landed on his feet. The branch they were on wasn't too far from his head. He looked up at her, "Need help?" He lifted his hands for her to take them.

She jumped down, "I think I got it."

Yoh smiled as they started to walk back to his house. He put his hands in his pocket, "So what should we do tomorrow? You get to choose."

"Well," she squinted her eyes a little to see, "I want to go visit my mother's grave at some point…but not first thing in the morning."

"More towards the end of the day?"

"Yes," she reached out for his arm and linked with it. Yoh looked at her and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, she decided to speak, "I just don't want to trip over something on the ground. If I fall, you're going down too."

Yoh laughed, "Well, I really hope I don't trip…"

Anna glared at Yoh, "If you fall, I'm letting go!"

"Aw, but, Anna! I'll fall if you fall! What happened to falling together?!"

"I just don't want to fall, period."

"Tell you what, Anna: if you fall, I will catch you."

Anna looked up at Yoh, still linked with his arm, "Promise?"

"Promise," Yoh didn't know if she could see, but he smiled.

Anna smiled too, but she was hoping he wouldn't see. She decided to keep their arms linked. As the night got darker, she squeezed him a little tighter, not because she was scared of the dark, oh, no, she was more afraid of the embarrassment of her falling.

"Oh, look, there's my house!" Yoh pointed.

Anna looked ahead, "We should've left on your porch light or something."

"Well we didn't know we'd be gone for so long."

"True, but next time we should," she said as they got closer and closer.

Soon they reached the front of his house. They entered and decided that it would be a good time to go to bed, they had a long day and still some stuff to do tomorrow. Anna grabbed her bag and said that she'd change in the bathroom that was down the hall while Yoh got dressed in his room. When he was done, he sat on his bed.

"What's taking Anna so long?" he said quietly to himself as he stared at the ceiling. A couple seconds later he heard a knock on the window. At first his eyebrows furrowed, "What the…" He went to the window and opened it. There was Anna in her pajamas, standing outside of his window, "Anna? How did you…"

"Like old times, right?" She said as she prepared to climb up the window, "Now back up…and don't you dare look under my shirt!"

"Ah!" Yoh backed up and turned away.

Anna climbed up the window. It was much easier now than at that time. She sat on the windowsill, "There."

Yoh smiled at her as he walked up to the bed and lifted up the sheets for her. She crawled in, just like always, "Goodnight, Anna."

"Goodnight Yoh."

"Sweet dreams."

"Ditto."

Anna closed her eyes, but Yoh kept his open. They were so close. The bed seemed so much bigger when they were little. Now…their faces and bodies were so much closer. Anna didn't seem to mind though, so Yoh just decided to shrug it off. He closed his eyes and he smiled when he could feel her warm breath on his face. Just like old times.

The next day, Anna woke up first. She woke up very close to Yoh's face. She sat up a bit and looked around. She forgot where they were for a second, but then remembered, Hick Town. She leaned back on her pillow and sighed and she threw an arm on her forehead. The movement woke Yoh up and he rubbed his eyes. He looked around as if he forgot where he was too.

"Oh," he said when it hit him, then he laughed.

"What's so funny?" Anna asked without moving her hand.

"I forgot where I was."

"Oh, I did too for a little bit."

Yoh got up and stretched, "Well, ready for round 2?"

"I guess," Anna said as she sat up, "Do you mind if I get ready first?"

Yoh shook his head, "I'd like to check out the house anyway."

Anna got up and headed to the bathroom; her stuff was still in there from last time. She took a quick shower because she had no idea how long the water heater would work…it must've been more than 20 years old.

She came out of the bathroom wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and a white skirt that was just above the knees. Then she went back to the room to alert Yoh that she was done. He nodded and headed towards the bathroom. While he was doing this, she decided to look around the house too. It wasn't that different at all.

When Yoh got out he went to the room to see Anna looking through her bag, "Something wrong?"

"We have no more food. And this town looks like it doesn't either; even if it did…I wouldn't eat from here."

"Shall we go get breakfast and come back?"

"I guess."

"Okay, let's go!" Yoh said grabbing his keys. Anna nodded and grabbed her bag.

Luckily there was a little diner not too far from Hick Town. It was also next to a gas station with a snack shack. They quickly ate at the diner, but then decided to pick up some snacks from the store.

"Is that all?" Yoh asked Anna he walked towards the register.

"Wait…"

"What is it?"

Anna handed him an object.

"A…?"

"Camera."

"Ah!" Yoh took it, "Good idea! We can make a photo album for ourselves! Grab another just in case, yeah?"

Anna nodded and then handed him another camera.

"Um…" he put the things on the counter, "Do you mind if we quickly revisit the places we were at yesterday? Just so we can take a picture of them?"

Anna shook her head, "Actually I was thinking that too."

"Great," Yoh said and he paid the cashier.

"But," Anna got his attention, "Let's save our spot for later. I wanna return there later today."

"Sure thing," he said as they made their way out of the shop.

So they went back to the school as their first stop. They took a picture of the outside and then the hallway inside. Then they headed to their math class and sat in their seats like yesterday.

Anna had the camera in her hand and looked at Yoh, "Act natural. Pretend I don't have a camera."

"Okay, I'll try." He got a little nervous…he knew that she had the camera which made it harder to act natural. But then he smiled as he got a paper from out of his desk and started writing. Then he turned toward her when he was finished.

"Catch," he said. He bit his bottom lip a bit as he aimed and fired. Anna quickly snapped a picture and the airplane came and gently fell onto her desk. She opened the note and it said:

TOSS THE CAMERA PLEASE : )

Anna looked at Yoh a little unsure.

"I'll catch it, I promise."

"Okay…" Anna tossed the camera underhanded.

Then Yoh gasped, which made her gasp. She sat up a bit to see what he was gasping about, but he started to laugh, "Just kidding, I caught it."

"Don't joke like that, it's not funny," Anna scolded with that serious face of hers, "If you broke that—"

Snap.

"Yoh! I was in the middle of talking!"

"Keep acting natural like that," he snapped another.

"Yoh! Stop!"

He laughed as he pretended to take another picture of her getting flustered. Then Anna stopped and turned to face the front. She, frustrated, took a strand of her hair and started to play with it like she used to when she was little and frustrated. Yoh smiled as he took another picture, "That's better."

"Oh?" Her eyes shifted to him swiftly and coldly, "You like when I'm frustrated with you?"

"No," Yoh laughed, lowering the camera, "I was trying to get you to play with your hair because you used to do that a lot during class."

Anna just kept staring him down. Yoh started to get nervous and was about to say something, but Anna turned to her desk and started writing Yoh back. Then she turned to throw it back at him. Yoh took a picture and caught the plane. He opened it up.

JERK (

Yoh laughed and as he wrote back ad sent it to her. She accepted it and opened the letter.

: D and a little heart

Anna gave a gentle smile, and without realizing he did, Yoh snapped a picture. Anna looked up and then at Yoh, "We should go."

"Okay," Yoh said getting up. He waited for Anna at the door. When she got there, he didn't move.

"What are you waiting for?"

"Stand by me."

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Anna stood by Yoh in the doorway and he put his arm on her shoulder and scooted closer, "Say Cheese!"

Yoh gave one of the goofy smiles he used to when he was a kid and Anna gave the small smile she used to give as a kid.

"Okay, let's go!" He smiled.

"Alright," Anna nodded, "Let's stop by your house, and then walk to the park and then the cemetery."

Yoh nodded, "Okay that sounds good. Oh, but let's drop my car off at your house, that way we can just walk to your house."

Anna nodded as they drove back to Yoh's house and he took a picture of the outside and then he went inside to take a picture of his room. Anna went outside and stood by the window as Yoh took a picture. Then Anna crawled in (as a picture was taken) and she took the camera from Yoh. He gave a goofy smile as he lay in the bed. She took a picture just so they could compare how much he's grown.

"Okay, let's go, before we run out of time," Yoh said getting up.

Anna nodded as they got into Yoh's car. Driving to Anna's house took almost no time at all. Anna didn't look at her house though. Yoh noticed that she looked everywhere else. So Yoh hurriedly parked the car and they got their things and headed towards the park. Not once did Anna turn to look at her house, but Yoh decided that it was better not to ask.

It didn't take too long to get to the park. Once there, Anna went up to the swings and Yoh started to push her. Yoh took the camera out of Anna's bag and once she started to swing higher, he moved in front of her to get a picture.

"But, how will we get a picture of you?" Anna asked.

"That's all right, the swings are all yours, I don't mind at all."

Anna smiled, and Yoh took another picture. Then Anna gave him a dirty look, "Stop taking pictures of me every chance you get! We'll run out of pictures!"

"We have two cameras!"

"That's not the point! This whole photo album will be of just me if you keep taking pictures!" she said as her swinging pattern started to slow down.

"But I'm fine with that—"

"I'm not! It's supposed to be our photo album, and I want pictures of you in there too!"

Yoh lowered the camera and smiled, "But I have plenty of pictures of me. In fact you can have some if you want, but I have only a hand full of you. I want more, so please, Anna, let me take pictures of you."

Anna was a little taken aback by his tone and her swinging was coming to a stop. She looked down and then to the side, "F-fine. But don't get annoying."

Yoh smiled, "Thanks!"

"But I still want pictures of you."

"Hai, hai."

"Speaking of which," Anna stood up from the swings, "Go stand by the monkey bars."

"Aw, no, Anna, c'mon."

"Do it."

His eye brows furrowed.

She glared.

He sighed, "Oh, alright."

He stood by the monkey bars with a pout on his face and Anna snapped the picture. When she was done she looked at him, "Is that all?"

"One more, let's go back to the swings."

So they went back and Yoh sat down and patted the seat next to him. Once Anna sat down, he waved for her to scoot closer. So Anna held onto the chains and leaned towards Yoh. He held out the camera and smiled while Anna gave a small smile and he snapped the picture.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes, but," Anna leaned away, "No pictures please. Maybe just one of my mother's grave, but that's it."

"Sure thing." Yoh said getting up and lent a hand to help Anna up. Anna ignored the friendly help and started her way to the cemetery, also as if in a trace. Yoh could tell that the time for laughter and fun was over; Anna was in her own world now. The only thing he could do now was ask himself whether or not he should say something. He decided not to.

The walk for Yoh was long and awkward, but the walk for Anna was short and hard. She knew she was getting closer and dreaded each step. It wasn't like she didn't want to she her mother's grave; it's just that she's neglected it for so long that it made Anna nervous. She felt as though her mom was mad…or more so, sad and lonely.

They were finally there, at her mother's grave. Anna stared at it blankly at first, then after a while, her face saddened and whispered, "I would've visited you every day if I could have." Then she said a bit louder, "Her stone's so dirty…"

Yoh bent down and started to wipe the gravestone with the sleeve of his jacket. Anna uttered a confused "Yoh?" But Yoh just turned to her and smiled, "Auntie Annabelle never liked dirty things. We should clean her up, don't you think?" Yoh looked around, "You think you can had me a water bottle?"

She did as he asked as he took off his jacket and poured some water onto it. Then, he used his jacket as a wash cloth, "But, Yoh, you're jacket…"

"It's okay, I can wash it," he smiled as he finished cleaning the stone, "Auntie's more important."

Anna gave a gentle smile, "Thanks Yoh…"

He only responded by smiling back. Then he got up and said a quick prayer to Anna's mother. When he was done, he could see that Anna still needed time. He saw that sad look on her face and was almost sure she would cry at any moment, but knowing Anna, she wouldn't.

Many things were probably running through Anna's head and he didn't want to disturb her so he started to look around and saw a bush full of flowers. He smiled as he got an idea and went over to the bush. He picked a few flowers and then laid them gently near the gravestone. This action snapped Anna out of her trance and stared at the flowers.

Anna gave a small smile and took off her shoes and held them in her hand. Yoh was a little confused, but then he looked at her face. She had her sad expression on again then she looked up at the sky with a cold smile, "It's so gloomy today…it looks like it might rain…but it won't…"

Yoh looked curiously at Anna. Her head slowly lowered and her blondish bangs covered her eyes, "…Anna…?"

Anna turned away from him and said (barely audible, but Yoh could hear it), "…follow me…" then she started to run, as fast as she could.

Yoh was a little shocked so he didn't start running right away, but once it registered in his mind he started to run after her, but he didn't want to catch right up to her or get ahead of her because he didn't know where she was headed. After a while, he steadied himself by her side and tried to look at her, "…Anna?"

Anna's head lowered a bit and ran a little faster. At first this confused Yoh, but then he saw something shinny and wet fly from Anna's face as she pulled ahead. Then Yoh understood that Anna was running to try to get her emotions out like he's done so many times before. So he decided to let her be and let her run off all the emotions swirling her in mind.

Now it was about sunset or maybe almost a little pass, but Anna didn't care, this whole time she had been running to their spot. She made it there just as the sun half way set. She heaved heavily as she stared at the sun. Her eyes were just a little red and her cheeks were slightly moist, but Yoh couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was. She was standing there with her arms out stretched like she conquered the world. Then she dropped her shoes from her hand and fell back into the tall grass.

"Anna?" Yoh got a little worried that maybe she collapsed from exhaustion. He walked over to where she was and stared at her, she was fine. She had a questioning look on her face. He smiled, "May I join you?"

She nodded as she closed her eyes. He laid the opposite way, it was like his head was right under her shoulder and her head was above his shoulder.

He closed his eyes and smiled. He listened to her as she caught her breath and it slowly when back to normal. He gave a slight chuckle at his thoughts.

"What's funny?"

"Well, it's not really funny, but you're all dirty."

Anna turned her head to look at him with a confused looked.

"I told you it wasn't funny."

"Then why did you chuckle?"

He laughed a little, "I don't know."

Anna raised an eyebrow and then rolled her eyes and turned her face forward again. She closed her eyes and smiled a bit, "Thank you, Yoh."

"For?" Yoh turned toward her.

"For taking me here," she turned slightly to him. She lifted her hand towards his and grabbed it. She closed her eyes, "You know…I've thought about killing myself so many times before."

Yoh frowned as he grabbed her hand.

"But…you know what kept me alive?" She turned slightly towards him, "The thought that I might be able to see you again."

Yoh looked at her; he didn't know what to say. There was slight confusion on his face, half concerned, half relieved, half worried.

"I tried to convince myself that I wouldn't see you again so I could just kill myself and get everything over with…" Anna closed her eyes, "But I couldn't forget you…no matter how hard I tried."

"Well, it's a good thing…'cause we did meet again," Yoh closed his eyes, "You're yourself again and here we are, remembering the good things of our past."

"You're right," she gave out a relieved sighed, "The only thing left to face is my house…"

"Don't worry," he gave her hand a tight, comforting squeeze, "You'll get through it. I'm here for you…don't go through your pain alone."

She smiled as her fingers weaved into his, "Let's just stay here a while longer…"

"Okay…"

After a while the sun was almost setting and Yoh decided to take the camera out. Anna's eyes were still closed and their hands were still connected. He lifted the other hand high above them and took the picture. He took another one in a different angle just in case.

Anna opened her eyes and turned to Yoh, "We'd better leave soon. I'm about to fall asleep."

"Alright," he got up slightly, but their hands were still connected.

Then Anna got up and ran her free hand through her hair.

"We need a picture in the tree and in the lake."

Anna nodded as they both got up and headed over to the tree. They got climbed on it as usual and Yoh took out the camera. He held it slightly above them to get the ground in the picture. They did their usual smiles and then Yoh decided to take a frontal picture.

After, they jumped down and Yoh pointed towards the lake, "Stick your feet in."

"Only if you do it too."

"But I'm wearing shoes, you're not…"

"Yoh. Arguing with me means nothing!"

Yoh sighed, "The things I do for…" He started to take his shoes off.

"You're the one who wants this picture. Blame yourself."

When Yoh was done, they stuck their feet in the cool, calm water. The contact gave them shivers, but then they found it rather relaxing. Yoh pulled out the camera and did a frontal picture and then another one slightly above so he could get the water in the picture. After that, Anna gave Yoh a look as if to ask "Are we done?" Yoh nodded. Then, as Anna was about to get out, Yoh splashed her.

"Excuse me?!" Anna gave a harsh glare as she fiercely splashed him back, getting almost all of his pants and a little of his shirt wet.

"Anna! I only splashed you a little bit! I only got a little on your skirt and blouse!"

"I don't care! Splash me again and I'm pushing you in!"

Then Yoh grabbed her arm, "Then you're coming with me!"

"Yoh! Let go!! You'll regret it!"

"You'll regret it! I'm already half-way wet!"

Anna struggled to get free, seeing as she couldn't; she got frustrated and kicked water at him.

"Gah!" Yoh definitely wasn't expecting that and unconsciously let go of her arm. Anna got up and out of the water before Yoh could splash her back. Yoh wiped the water from his face, "Not fair, Anna!"

"You grabbing my arm isn't fair!" She said, putting her shoes back on.

"You were going to push me in!" He said getting out of the water.

"Only if you splashed me again!" Anna took out the spare camera that was in her bag and decided to take pictures. Yoh opened his mouth to speak while he was putting on his shoes, but Anna interrupted, "Uh-uh-uh! What did I say about arguing?"

Yoh pouted and frustratingly looked away and mumbled, "I let you win…"

"What was that?" She asked pulling on his ear.

Yoh couldn't help but bust up laughing.

"Care to tell me what's so funny?"

"This is almost exactly how we used to be."

She gave a quick, small smile but then harshly let go of Yoh's ear and mumbled, "You're just trying to change the subject…" She turned towards the road, "Well…let's start heading home."

The walk started off comfortable, but then as they got closer to their destination, their pace got slower and awkward. It wasn't towards each other; the awkwardness was actually because they were nervous about entering a house that haunted them for so long. A person died there, and was abused there, and Yoh was beaten (almost to death) there. But soon they ran out of road and were suddenly faced with the eerie, unkempt house.

The sun was now all the way down, but they could still tell of the house's condition. The paint was peeling and the grass was unexceptionally tall, the porch could hardly be seen! The wind blew quickly and made the screen door creak. There it was, Anna's old home. The condition of it reminded her of her own life and she found herself in a trance. She couldn't move, she just stared as all the memories of her childhood rushed into her head. It was too much to take in and her mind was getting confused. Random clips of her life passed through her mind and it seemed she was spiraling down a twisted road, no matter how hard she tried to find a path, it faltered.

She seemed to be falling and couldn't get a grip on anything. She reached out, hoping one of the past figures could catch it, but there were no takers. They all laughed at her. Haijime, Kyosuke, and Kosuke were all there scoffing at her. Their faces began to twist and distort themselves. Anna was once again 10 and tears filled her eyes. She looked around and saw her mother. She reached out to her, but her mother shook her head sadly and denied her daughter's hand. Anna's eyes watered even more and she descended down further. She was getting past the point of no return. Before she gave up, she reached her hand up one more time, this time someone grabbed it.

"Anna?! Anna, are you alright?!" Yoh took a hold of Anna's hand.

"Wha…what?" Anna blinked a couple of times.

"What happened? You blanked out for a little while! Nothing I said was getting to you! You…you just stood there."

"I…" She wiped one of her eyes, "I'm fine…I just spaced out there for a little while."

"We can stay at my house again if you want to," his grip on her hand tightened.

"No," she shook her head, "I need to do this." Then she looked at their hands, "Just…don't let go." She weaved her fingers into his.

Yoh smiled, "Let's go."

Anna closed her eyes and she nodded and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes with new determination and held onto Yoh's hand tightly. She walked forward and opened the door. It was dark and gloomy…just how she remembered it. She turned on the lights and let go of Yoh's hand. He looked her questionably, but she gave him a reassuring look, "Could you…get my bags for me?"

"S-sure thing," Yoh nodded and new she wanted to look at her house alone. When he returned, he saw she was still inspecting, "I'm going to put these in the room, okay?"

Anna nodded as she looked through the kitchen. She looked at all the rooms except for the bedrooms. When Yoh came back, he saw her sitting against the wall, where she and he were beaten.

"A-Anna, are you all right?" He sat next to her.

"This blood," her finger ran across the floor, "Is…is it mine, or is it yours?"

Yoh sadly looked at it, "Who knows?"

Anna buried her head in her knees. She wasn't crying or anything, she just…needed to stop looking at this wrecked house. Maybe spending the night here was a bad idea.

Then Anna felt something warm wrap around her. She looked up, "Yoh!" He was pretty much wrapped around her like he was on that fateful date when they were separated, "Yoh…please…stop."

"I'm gunna protect you. Don't worry. I'll take care of you." Those were the exact words he had said to her that night.

Anna buried her head into his shoulder and gave out a sigh. She wrapped her arms around him, "Why…why do you have to be like this…"

Yoh gave out a chuckle, "Just my natural charm, I guess." He could feel Anna's smile through his shirt. They stayed in that embrace for a while until Yoh spoke again, "We should probably go to bed, we have a big day tomorrow."

Anna nodded and Yoh slowly got up and helped Anna up. They made their way to Anna's old room, but on the way she saw her mother and Haijime's old room. She stopped and stared.

"Wanna check it out?" Yoh innocently asked.

Anna shook her head, "No…maybe in the morning. It's too frightening at night."

Yoh nodded and continued to walk to her room. They opened the door and the scent of Strawberries and Champagne filled their noses, "I can't believe it still smells like this…after all these years…"

"There's probably still bottles in here," Anna looked around and opened the top drawer of her dresser. She opened it and smiled, there was a bottle of Strawberries and Champagne and various notes.

"What are those?"

"Notes from you."

"Oh!" Yoh went over there to look at the various notes he used to make during class. Yoh laughed as he read some of them.

"You're writing's atrocious, I'm surprised I could read these chicken scratches."

"Well, yeah, compared to your writing mine's horrible, Miss I-dot-my-I's-with-hearts."

"Whatever, I didn't have any I's in my name and they looked boring with just a tiny dot on top of them."

Yoh laughed. They read some more letters but then noticed the time, "I'll change in the bathroom, you change in here."

Anna nodded, "Knock before you enter, got it?"

"Isn't that how it always is?"

"Just making sure you know."

"Hai, hai." He left and got dressed quickly. When he was done, he knocked on the door and heard his signal to enter. When he came in, Anna was sitting Indian-style on her bed. She looked a little sad, "What's wrong?"

"My bed's so small."

Yoh's eyebrows furrowed, he didn't get it, but then the eyebrows lifted, "Oh, well, I can sleep on the floor."

Anna gave a little pout.

"It's not the first time," he looked around to see if there were extra blankets, "Remember that one time I slept over and Haijime made sleep on the floor?"

Anna nodded as she handed Yoh some extra blankets and a pillow. She thought about how childish she was. So what if Yoh couldn't sleep next to her? She didn't need him right next to her all night. Anna stretched as she yawned and slipped herself under the sheets, "Well, then, goodnight."

Yoh finished making his bed, turned off the lights and slipped in, "Goodnight." He stared at the ceiling. He was tired, but couldn't sleep. He was worried about what Anna was thinking. Was she all right? Was she uncomfortable? He wanted to ask, but he didn't know how to. He closed his eyes and listened to Anna's soft breathing…it didn't sound uncomfortable. He opened his eyes and saw Anna's hand, falling from the side of her bed. Her arm fell limply, so he implied that she was asleep. Her hand grazed his face ever-so-lightly. He smiled when he saw her hand, a memory quickly flashed back to him.

It was long ago, Anna's mother was still alive and I had been invited to sleep over. Haijime wouldn't let me and Anna sleep in the same bed for some odd reason, so Auntie made me a bed on the floor and I slept next to Anna's bed. Auntie kissed my forehead and bid me goodnight and did the same for Anna. We were supposed to go to sleep then, but Anna and I stood awake talking.

"Yoh," she leaned over her bed and looked down upon me.

"Hm?" I looked up at her.

"Um," she started, I confusedly looked at her, she hardly ever struggled to talk, "Well…don't mind anything you hear, okay?"

"What do you mean?" I was so stupid, I should've realized at that moment.

"Don't mind anything if you hear my mom and Haijime arguing, okay?"

I cocked my head, but then I got it. I laughed a little, "Its okay. My parents fight too."

Anna closed her eyes almost painfully as she shook her head as she lied down to prepare to sleep, "Goodnight, Yoh." She whispered.

I smiled, "Goodnight, Anna."

Later on I heard a noise and opened my eyes. It was very dark, but there was light coming from the bottom crack of the door. I sat up just a tiny bit to see shadows under the door. Before it had never occurred to me what was spoken because I wasn't supposed to mind what the argument was about, but now thinking about it I think I heard Anna's mother whispering, yet yelling, "Anna's friend Yoh is over!"

I couldn't hear what Haijime said, but he was mumbling something. I got a little scared so I lay back down and wondered if Anna awoke from the noise. I looked up to see if I could see her and her eyes were tightly closed as she tightly clutched the sheets on her bed.

"Stop it!" I heard Auntie Annabelle yell and then I heard that noise that woke me up again. I closed my eyes at the sound of the noise…it sounded like something getting hit. After that noise, I heard Anna gasp. I looked up, but couldn't see her very well, "Anna?" I asked softly.

"Yoh…I…" Her arm lowered and her hand dangled in front of my face.

"Don't worry, sometimes my parents fight too…" even though I knew she couldn't see me I smiled. Then I grabbed her hand and held it, "Its okay."

At first Anna jumped at the contact, but then relaxed. She sighed and whispered, "Yoh…don't let go, okay?"

"Okay," I smiled and through the whole night we stayed like that and we were both able to sleep peacefully.

Now, Anna's hand was there again. Yoh smiled and gently weaved his fingers through hers. He wasn't sure if Anna was already asleep, so he didn't say anything, but he heard her give out a peaceful sigh. He gave her hand a light kiss, "I won't let go, okay?"

"Yoh…" Anna managed to mumble out and her fingers moved weakly and gently, but he took that as her giving him a light squeeze.

He smiled and closed his eyes and mumbled something under his breath. Even though Anna couldn't hear it, he decided to say it anyway. But, as if she heard it in her sleep, she smiled. Both were finally at peace and were able to sleep without nightmares or worries. It seemed that the past was no longer haunting them and their stresses were gone.

I was so happy that Anna and I were able to come back here and face our past. Even we were one of the most unfortunate childhood cases, we still had good times and that's what we needed to focus on. The fact was, was that we lived through it and it only made us stronger. Anna maybe having battles in her own mind about her past and maybe her future, but I believe that at this moment, the present, she was perfectly in the right mind.

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Haha, okay. I'm an idiot. There's no way Anna could dot her I's with hearts because there are no I's to dot in Japanese writing XO Oh well, please don't be picky about that. I realized it…but I couldn't think of anything else to put there so I just left it. And I hope you all liked it…it wasn't as cute as I wanted it to be, but I still think it was pretty cute.

And again, forgive any grammar and/or spelling errors….long chapter to proof-read and I was trying to get it up sooner.

PREDICTION FOR THE NEXT UPDATE: a week again, but if you review…I could see if I could get it in sooner… ; )

I can't wait to get the next chapter out; I've been wanting to write it since I wrote the Prologue!! I think you guys will like it…hehe. Oh, and that reminds me that this story is sadly (maybe for some of you) is ending. There are only two chapters left and an epilogue. So get your reviews in now!! My goal was (well still is) to get 100 reviews. But you know, even if I don't reach that goal, I'll still be satisfied because you guys are so nice with your reviews!! I love your reviews…it lets me know that you actually read it and that you actually enjoyed it!! Thanks so much guys, I mean it!! From the bottom of my heart!! : ) (Insert heart here)

Hehe. Well I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading. This is and will stay the longest chapter (43 pages) so I'll see you next time!! Ja ne!