Konnichiwa and all that relates! I have finally written chapter 3! Yay! Correction from last chapter= This is my longest chapter yet with over 6500 words, woot! ...Sorry I just get excited when I'm able to write so much in one chap.

First, I apologize for this taking sooo long for me to update. I just wasn't inspired nor did I have any idea of what to do. I actually scraped a 'attempt #1 of chap 3' because it sounded ugh! I just wasn't feeling it in that one. So that's why it took long for me to update, otherwise I would already be half way through chapter 4 by now :]

Misao: All I know is that it's supposed to come out in the fall of this year, but I have read so many things that I'm not sure anymore. It's one of those things that I just keep checking up on and when I see the first episode of the new season I squeal like a little girl! :3 ...I'm not joking :| I seriously will do that. I am praying it will be out soon and I would love for it to be in October! It's so close! But yet I dread the day I see season 3 of SnS because it's also the last season it will ever have!

*Gets down on my knees, hands together, fingers interwined as I shake them above my head with animated waterfalls of tears coming down my cheeks* Why?

It's going to be awesome though! Anyway's,

Enjoy!

Shana opened her eyes to find herself still sitting in the same black chair from her previous dream. She turned to her right to see the same black block of cement with the side still sticking out, holding another bright yellow lemon.

Grabbing the lemon, Shana broke it in half to see yet another thin piece of paper in it with a fortune typed out on it.

The flame haze didn't waste any time opening it and reading the fortune. It's been a couple of days since her time in the theater and every single time she went to sleep she wound up right back in the same spot on this black chair again and again. By now she knew opening up the lemons were harmless actions to take once here so she doesn't ever hesitate anymore.

But Shana was still confused by the whole thing still. If Alice had been dead for over 500 years now then how was the girl able to get inside her dreams like this and basically communicate with the flame haze? Was it the fox girl's spirit or something? It could very well be, with the things that have happened within the last couple of months that are pretty bewildering, and sometimes just plain messed up.

It seems as though anything it possible now...well except being able to slam a revolving door but that's beside the point.

Shana had explained everything that involved Alice during her coma to Whilhelmenia and the older flame haze seemed shocked when she heard. Ever since then Whilhelmenia said she would research it, but there wasn't much to look into since it had gone down in a dream and there wasn't any physical evidence of Alice being there. But she was determined to find out what was going on, plus Alice was a precious friend to Caramel-san so that edged her on to solve the mystery even more.

Whilhelmenia did the liberty of clarifying what had happened to Alice as well. The pink haired woman said that one day Alice had gone to clear up a mess in a city that was about a couple of hours from where they had settled down at. It was supposed to be a 4 day job to fix but it had been 2 weeks since they had heard or seen of the fox girl. Whilhelmenia had gotten worried and suspicious of why she hadn't returned.

About two days later the Manipulator of Objects had gone looking for the girl at the city, around it and along the way to it. What made Whilhelmenia worry more was that 4 months earlier, Kukaii, had been killed. Alice had been depressed for a very long time before one day she was like the rainbow in the sky. Nothing but smiles, laughs, and enthusiastic words. You wouldn't have believed what had happened happened if you saw her then.

When Whilhelmenia arrived at the city she got very worried. The 'mess', which was a denizen or two eating away at people existence, was still there. Nothing had changed. It wasn't like Alice to just neglect her duties.

That day she was left with only a single question going through her mind a mile a second. Where was Alice?

After searching and searching for days on end she finally found a clue, but it nearly broke her heart. Going along in a river peacefully was a black, with some white markings, jacket, which is the one Alice had been wearing when she went out. Then a couple of days later they found her scythe in a town on the other side of the country.

Whilhelmenia had no idea what happened to the fox girl by that point. Nor did she really want to think about it for the chance of Alice's dirty blonde hair appearing stained in her dark red blood. Ever since then the Manipulator of Objects had rarely shown emotions, always keeping the same poker face on display. It was not until she met Pheles did she start to soften up more and showed more smiles, however, it was not until Shana came along did Whilhelmenia turn into the person she is today.

The flame haze sighed, coming back to reality from her short flashback. What she had been told only seemed to further bewilder her now.

Shana looked down at the piece of paper in her hand and it read;

'Don't be afraid, Love will lead the way'

She made a drawn out 'Hnnn' sound after finishing reading it. Yet again she didn't quite get what it will do, but the only way is to wake up and see what the day is gonna throw at her to prove this fortune true. Wait..Were all the fortunes really true? No type of 'seeing the future' crap is ever true. Then again there is a high chance it could be psychological. Since she knows what it says then she ends up revolving her actions around it? Maybe?

Demo...The flame haze got a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach that it wasn't just Alice helping,and/or, messing with her, but rather it feels like there is a bigger reason behind the lemons. A hidden truth that is gonna change everything..

For now Shana just shrugged it off and hit the 'Wake up' button.

*************************Shakugan no Shana*********************************

Her cell phone going off awoke the flame haze that morning. It was Yuji.

She grabbed the vibrating cell and flipped it open.

"Mushi mushi?" Shana rubbed her eyes a little to rid of the sleep that was still there.

"Shana? Did you just wake up?" Yuji caught on to how tired she sounded.

"Kinda."

"You do know it's almost 2 in the afternoon"

"Oh really?" It didn't really surprise her since the last couple of days she has been getting up later than she ever dreamed of. She looked out her window after pulling up the blinds to see the day was nothing but gray skies and rain. It looked pretty gloomy.

"I'm fine" She replied when he asked if she was alright. "Not to be mean but what's the reason you called me?"

"Oh yea!" Apparently he forgot. "Pack up a swimsuit and a change of clothes and meet us out front in 10 minutes"

"What's the-"

"Anyway I'll see you there, l- Uh..Bye" And then he hung up.

Shana stared at the phone. Why does she have to pack up a swimsuit and some clothes? It's probably a surprise otherwise Yuji would have told her why. Wait, didn't he say 'us'?

Yuji on the other hand mentally smacked himself after hanging up as he came this close to saying 'love you' at the end.

Not really interested in thinking about it anymore the flame haze did what he told her. One swimsuit and a change of clothes, check. She packed them into a dark green, with a pink Mercedes sign on it, messenger bag.

She quickly got ready, and grabbed a umbrella and headed out the door within the 10 minutes. Heading down the stairs, she could see the front of a car slowly coming into view.

"Ohayou Shana-chan" Yoshida greeted the flame haze once she was with the group.

Shana said 'Ohayou' back before looking at the car with a questioning expression.

"We're going to the beach!" Yuji said before she could ask about it.

The beach? It's pouring down raining and they want to go to the beach?

But wait. The closest beach to them is about a day's drive away, which meant that they would be out of the storm. After remembering that Shana nodded back to him. Hmm...Nobody seems to have any plans these days.

Then she noticed someone new.

"You must be Shana, I'm Mihara Kazumi" The young lady introduced herself. She had blonde hair and green eyes that looked like emeralds. Mihara looked to be in her early 20's, and had a very hour-glass figure.

The flame haze smiled and nodded. 'There was always another Kazumi?'

"Let's go!" Ogata exclaimed, pumping a fist in the air with stars in her eyes.

They all surrounded the car before realizing a small...or a rather big problem. The car was a 5 passenger sedan and Shana, Yuji, Yoshida, Ike, Ogata, Tanaka and Yoshida's older sister, Mihara, was going.

Since Mihara was 24 and had her driver's license, plus it was her car, she was the one behind the wheel. Ike sat in the passenger seat while Yuji sat behind him and Tanaka behind Mihara. Yoshida was seated in the middle seat between the two, leaving the laps of the two boys empty for Ogata and Shana.

Ogata situated herself on Tanaka's lap, so excited that she didn't really feel embarrassed. The flame haze on the other hand was a little nervous to sit on Yuji's lap.

Eventually ,having everyone in the car, they drove off to the 'Hirima Bay' beach.

The whole ride was a bit awkward.

The entire time Shana had her head resting between the passenger seat headrest and the side of the car with the seatbelt.

With her facing down nobody was able to see the crimson blush that was practically melting her cheeks. Ogata had a very slight blush but she kept her focus out the window.

30 minutes later...

Half an hour had gone by and any tension that was in the car had packed it's bags and gone away because everyone was talking, throwing jokes around, or just laughing from the stories.

Mihara turned out to be a very funny, outgoing type of girl but was still very polite and kind.

Eventually Shana was forced to lean back because her back was killing her from slightly bending over for such a long period of time.

Yuji was slightly startled by it, but he soon relaxed as she did too.

The flame haze couldn't believe how good it felt to straighten her back if just a little, completely forgetting she was sitting against Yuji.

It was now the boy's turn to blush. And it didn't help at all when she decided to roll the window down which caused her hair to continuously blow into Yuji's face.

He had to admit though that her hair did smell good, like apples and cinnamon.(1)

Ogata stole a glance back at Tanaka and sighed. He fell asleep already. Along with Ike in the front seat.

She continued to look out to the window.

**************************Shakugan no Shana********************************

6 hours later around midnight...

Ike had been awake for about an hour now when he looked over at Mihara. Her eyes were drooping as she fought to keep them open.

"Ano Mihara-san?"

His voice seemed to wake her up as she looked over at him.

"You look very tired, I think I should take over from here" He suggested.

"Ah, Arigatou Hayato-kun" She said while smiling at him, the happiness of being able to go to sleep overwhelmed her as she slowly pulled the car over on the side of the road. They quickly changed seats and as Mihara was buckling her seat belt she noticed how funny and cute the scene was in the back seat.

She quietly giggled as small smile made it's way on her lips. She patted Ike on the shoulder to get his attention. "Look" She whispered and pointed toward the back when he looked at her.

Tanaka had his face pressed against the window by Ogata's foot while her other dangled off the seat. She had her head resting on Yoshida's lap while her legs were on Tanaka's. And she had a ear-to-ear grin plastered on her face while a little drool escaped at the corner of her mouth.

Yoshida had her head resting on Yuji's shoulder as she was clinging to his arm.

Shana had somehow managed to turn around in her sleep and was now straddling Yuj's lap while her head rested on his chest.

Yuji had his head resting against the window while his right arm was wrapped around the flame haze's waist.

The two girls both had peaceful faces while the boy had a small smile.

"Awww" Mihara barely managed to keep her voice down. The car started going again and she was out like a light.

Ike smiled once he saw her, and looked in the rear view mirror. He felt kinda envious of Yuji. Two very pretty girls are clinging to him for dear life and he doesn't notice.

Though Ike would help Shana any way he could so she could get closer to Yuji since Ike loved Yoshida. But he pushed the thought aside, it just seemed selfish to do that in a way.

He sighed. It's probably about time he upped his game.

Around 4 o'clock in the morning Shana stirred from her sleep.

She opened her eyes to see Yoshida facing right back at her.

The flame haze blinked a couple of times until she felt her pillow moving and she quickly sat upright. Luckily Yuji was still asleep as he slightly repositioned himself to get more comfortable.

She blushed once she noticed she was still straddling him, but didn't move, not really wanting to.

Shana looked at him. His face illuminated such a peaceful expression.

"Must be having a good dream" she concluded just above a whisper.

The flame haze slowly leaned in closer and saw the faintest of smiles that tugged on the corners of his mouth. She couldn't help but slightly smile at it. He's probably dreaming about the beach, that would explain it.

"Sh..ana.." Yuji mumbled in sleep. Her heart practically skipped a beat when his arm around her waist tightened and pulled her closer.

'He's dreaming about me?' She thought both perplexed and happy.

Happy because - hello?- it was her who he was dreaming of.

Perplexed because what did it mean exactly? If a guy your in love with is dreaming about you then does that mean he likes you to? She hoped so.

Her cheeks were blazing red and she tried so hard to get her heart rate back to normal. If it kept up at this speed it would be at the beach long before they reached it. The flame haze took deep breaths and it helped.

Seeing it was still dark outside she leaned against Yuji's chest again and closed her eyes. Letting his heartbeat be her lullaby.

****************************Shakugan no Shana******************************

"Wake up! Wake up!" Ike started shouting so as everyone heard him and opened their eyes. "Welcome to Hirima Bay!"

Everyone was really happy to see the beach after such a long car ride.

Soon enough Ike parked the car in the bay's parking lot and they all carried their swimsuits with them as they approached the beach.

The beach was covered in nicely tanned sand that looked soft. The waves gracefully rolled in and in the more distant park of the ocean you could see big title waves crashing down while white seagulls flew around.

Much to everyone relief there wasn't that many people out today. It's a bit of a surprise since it's very hot out, at least over 100F.

The group changed before finding a place away from most of the people.

The water felt really nice since it was cold, and within the first 10 minutes everyone was already having so much fun in the water under the sun.

About an hour and a half later they got hungry and came back under the big umbrella for lunch. Ike came prepared and brought everyone a homemade bento's, putting extra special time into Yoshida's.

"Wow! This is delicious!" Mihara complimented after the first bite before scarfing down the rest.

"It is!" Yoshida agreed. Ike blushed slightly and smiled at her. The rest followed in suit of Mihara and scarfed down everything.

"Hey anybody up for a boat ride?" Hayato asked everybody after finishing lunch."There's a place that you can rent some small boats down the road"

"That sounds fun" Mihara said looking around at everyone.

After agreeing, everybody left to walk down to the dock place.

"Only 2 people can fit in each boat.." Tanaka commented when they arrived at the place. There was a long dock and several two passenger boats on each side. Rowboats...

They all looked at each other before Ike spoke up.

"Ok..2 people each, then fine! C'mon we can just pick the pairs and still enjoy the boat ride!" He said enthusiastically with a cheerful smile.

Soon they were all out on the boats going along the water. Ike and Yoshida took a boat together, Ogata and Tanaka after them, and Shana and Yuji in the last.

Mihara didn't go in one claiming she got seasick, but insisted everyone else have fun. She ended up going to a ice cream parlor and waiting.

For awhile the three boats were in a group, but somewhere along the way they split up.

Yuji rowed the boat along at a good pace while Shana sat opposite of him, leaning on the side with a smile that gracefully tugged on the corner of her mouth. She reached down, letting her fingertips glide along the water.

He watched and smiled. Shortly before Shana had awoke from her coma in the hospital he realized what that feeling was whenever he looked at her or the times when he would go to visit her and just hold her hand and caress it. Praying she would wake up.

He realized it could be that he wanted to be more than just partners in battle and friends. It wasn't until the day she looked at him after coming out of the hospital, when he saw her eyes open again, did he remove all doubt of the feeling inside. Then he remembered he had always seemed to feel like that toward her, nearly the whole time he had known her. That feeling was always there, he just failed to notice.

It was Love.

They continued going along with a comfortable silence.

Yoshida sat across from Ike watching the seagulls fly overhead while listening to the calming sound of the ocean waves.

"It's so peaceful" Ike commented as the boat started floating in the one spot, his arms were starting to get tired.

"It's beautiful too" She added after nodding in agreement.

"Just like you" He said with a small smile, his voice dripping with sincerity. She blushed.

He mentally sighed in relief. The words came out before he knew what he was saying and by the time he did all he could do was smile.

She smiled back.

He momentarily forgot to breath. Her smile had always seemed to do that to him. The truth being, he was madly and utterly in love with Yoshida Kazumi.

Ogata sighed happily as a light breeze blew in her face and through her hair.

She always enjoyed coming to the beach. The sand between her toes, the perfectly warm ocean water, the sounds of the seagulls, the cool breeze that would sometimes blow, and just having fun under the sun.

The sounds of a camera brought her back to reality from her daydreaming. She looked to the right to see Tanaka with a camera in hand, looking off to his left, taking picture after picture.

The girl made a pouting face at this. He wasn't even paying her any attention!

She turned to the side of the boat again and dipped a finger in the water, her expression one of equanimity.

He looked at her.

*****************************Shakugan no Shana*****************************

Another half hour went by and Mihara was getting very worried about everyone. They still had not returned and they have been gone for more than two hours now.

About an hour ago Mihara was watching the T.V, which of course was on the news channel, when the local weather report came in.

The man on the screen said that there was going to be a storm coming in very soon, and it was producing lightning. And guess what? It was the same one they ditched in Misaki.

She went back to the dock as soon as she heard of it and hoped they were getting out of the boats once she got there, but somethings were never supposed to happen sometimes.

Mihara got to the place and still saw that the three boats were missing. Ever since then she's been waiting next to the small shabby looking building, scanning the horizon for any signs of her sister and the others.

The storm was just coming in, and it was starting to sprinkle when she spotted one of the boats coming in.

Once it got closer she saw it was Ike and Yoshida. But sadly none of the other boats were behind them.

"Are you two alright?" Mihara asked them once they got out of the boat and on the dock.

"Hai, we noticed the dark clouds coming in so we quickly came back" Yoshida explained.

"I hope the others will be alright" Mihara said.

"Me too" The younger Kazumi said apprehensively.

"Don't worry, they'll be coming into the docks before you know it" Ike's confident voice belied the worry he was feeling inside.

*************************Shakugan no Shana*********************************

Yuji slowly opened his eyes to be met with a very rocky and slimy ceiling. "Eh?"

He looked to his right and saw Shana laying next to him, looking like she was still asleep. Sitting up he discovered the reason for the rather odd ceiling, it wasn't one. Well technically not a 'house ceiling' but instead the ceiling of a cave. A dark one at that. He tried to remember how he got here, but all he could remember to was going out on the boat ride.

Yuji got up to his feet and started to circumspectly wonder around. He found out that the cave went back quite a ways, but he didn't walk to far in so he's wasn't sure how far back it really went.

He looked at the opening of the cave and realized something. There was no boat.

What happened to the boat? He thought about it and came to the inexorable conclusion that it had drifted away and was now lost at sea somewhere.

"Great" He muttered as he rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Yuji walked to the edge of the cave and looked out to see if he could see the Hirima Bay. Much to his dismay he couldn't see anything except water. Rain was being dumped outside in the motherloads as lightning stuck here and there followed by crackling thunder.

He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck before heading back over to the flame haze's sleeping form.

He contemplated whether or not to wake her up. She looked to at ease that he decided against it, it wasn't like they were in serious danger or anything. The cave would keep them safe from the lightning and rain but he noticed the temperature was rapidly falling.

He shivered. Looking around he tried to find anything that would help preserve heat or any type of burnables that he could make a fire with, but to no avail.

Yuji decided to explore further into the cave in hopes of finding something to help with the temperature drop.

It was so dark he could barely see two feet in front of him as he walked through a very slim 'hallway' in the cave . He finally came up to an opening that was slightly more lit up, but it was still blindingly dark.

The temperature inside the large room in the cavern was what caught the boy's attention. It was considerably warmer, but it was still barely considered 'cold'.

He turned around. You could still see the front of the cave and the water from where he was which was a good thing, they could see if help would come around.

Yuji walked back to the mouth of the cavern and looked to see Shana still unconsious.

He had to admit, she looked so cute when she had a sleeping face on, but (though he wouldn't yet say it to her) he thought she was always cute at times and all other times she was beautiful. He smiled and carefully picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the larger room, making sure as to not wake her.

Setting her down, he sat next to her.

Yuji opened his eyes to realize he had fallen asleep. Probably from all the rowing and stressful situation it caused a great amount of fatigue.

He also realized something else. His current position.

His face was but three inches from Shana's and he had his arm around her waist while their legs were slightly tangled with each other. Much to his cruel luck at that precise moment the flame haze opened her eyes.

She stared at him for a long time, seeming like she was half asleep, before her eyes narrowed. She slowly looked down to assess the situation. Before he could think of anything to say, she sprang up onto her feet and turned around while pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Pervert!"

"Whoa wait a second. It's not what it looked like" He tried to explain, but the glare she sent his way made him shut up. Though he did notice her cheeks were a bright red, if from embarrassment or anger he couldn't tell.

Shana sat against the side of the cave and looked around. It was dark so there wasn't much to look at.

She shivered. Wearing only a swimsuit made it even colder in the cave.

After awhile the tension in the air finally got to Yuji as he ever so slowly inched his way toward the flame haze. "Shana?" no response.

He sighed before looking up. "It's not-"

"Shut up" She cut him off, but her voice wasn't as cold as it usually was when she was mad.

"Listen, I-"

"Shut up"

"But do-"

"Shut up"

"Don-"

His persistence really got on her nerves for some reason. "Uresai,Uresai, Uresai!"

Yuji reluctantly sighed in defeat. He knew he wouldn't be able to explain anytime soon.

Shana was mentally kicking herself. She isn't mad at him but the words coming out of her mouth wouldn't stop. Her mind said one thing but out came the complete opposite.

She guessed she probably overreacted in the first place, and she almost instantly regretted calling him a pervert. She knew he would never have done anything to any girl in their sleep, but for some reason it came out. Like someone went in her body and said it.

But how was she supposed to forgive him now? He's probably mad at her for not letting him explain. She hoped it wasn't like that.

The flame haze heaved a slightly depressed sigh and stole a glance over at the boy. He had his eyes closed like he was thinking.

She inched over toward him while she thought of what to say. Maybe an apology for overreacting? Would he forgive her let alone listen to it? Then she would have to think of another way. Maybe-

Her thoughts were lost as he looked over at her.

"Shana listen I-" Yuji tried again to explain but was cut off by her leaning over and giving him a peck on the cheek before looking away.

"I overreacted. I'm sorry" She said, each word coated with sincerity, before looking back toward him with a 'sorry' face. "Forgive me?"

"As long as you forgive me" He replied with a smile.

She nodded and smiled back at him.

They could both feel something in the air and then it happened. The whole top of the cave lit up a misty light blue with dozens of illuminating crystals shining brilliantly.

Shana looked around and then saw pathway. She grabbed Yuji's hand and they both headed down it. Crystals lighting the way.

*****************************Shakugan no Shana*****************************

The flame haze and mystes found themselves in wooded area after following the path out of the cave. There was another path heading to the left and they followed it until...

They appeared back on Hirima Bay beach sand. Turns out they never went far.

Not long after they found their way back to the docks.

"Oh my gosh where have you two been, we have been worried sick" Mihara shouted when she spotted Shana and Yuji coming up, she quickly gave them a hug feeling a great deal of weight lift from her shoulders.

"Thankgoodness" Yoshida breathed out.

"What happened to you two?" Ike came and asked the flame haze and mystes.

Shana and Yuji breifly looked at each other before Yuji spoke. "When the storm hit we...got lost" He said it with a small chuckle at the end.

"It's a good thing nothing happened to you guys out there!" Ogata said, relieved her friends weren't electricuted to a crisp.

They all got changed and the girls headed to a smoothie shop. The guys, however, had to look for the missing boat since it was a rental.

Nobody thought they would find it and after awhile they didn't so the owner of the boat rental place put them to work for a couple of hours...along with a suffiecient amount of money added into the mix.

"Hey, have you guys ever heard of the 'Hidden Loves Cave'?" Mihara asked. The questions caught the other girls attention as they looked over at her with curious faces as they sipped their smoothies.

"Really?" She asked in disbelief. Once they all shook their heads she gave them all a you-might-be-crazy look before continuing.

"I'm surprised since you all seem to have your eyes on the boys" Mihara stated with a knowing grin as the girls slightly blushed. "Oh well, I'll tell you about it"

"You see, there is an urband legend of a cave that's along the coast here. People say if two people go into the cave and they both have true love for the other than the cave will glow on it and that's why it's called the 'Hidden Loves Cave'" She finished and took a sip of her smoothie. Shana nearly chocked on her's when the older Kazumi told of the cave. That is exactly what happened when she and Yuji were in that cave, but is it the same cave or one that is creepily similiar to it?

She would have pondered it more but Ogata spoke up, making her thoughts vanish into thin air.

"Is it really true? What do you mean 'it will glow on it'?"

Mihara shrugged, "As far as I am aware of it's true, and I'm not sure about the glowing part. It's just what I have heard from other people and they never say anything more than that"

Shana looked out the window she was sitting next to, her eyes soon locking onto Yuji. Since the smoothie shop was just across the street the girls had a good view of the boating place.

"If they have true love for each other than the cave will glow on it?" She mumbled to herself as she watched him.

It eventually became time to leave the next day as they all packed up in the black sedan again and drove off back to Misaki.

The day part of the trip went by smoothly and surprisingly fast for the passengers, and before they knew it it was night fall.

Everyone was fast asleep except Mihara who was still driving. Ike was again in the passenger seat, Yuji behind him and Tanaka behind Mihara.

Yoshida was again in the middle.

However their sleeping positions changed dramtically from the previous night. Ogata had her head resting on Tanaka's lap while her body was stretched out along the seats and her feet were laying on Yuji's lap. Yoshida had her head resting on Tanaka's shoulder while he had his head resting on her's.

Shana had her legs over Yuji's lap while she was leaning against Yoshida. Yuji, however, had the side of his head resting against the flame haze's chest while his arm laid across her legs.

Mihara giggled at the scene.

About half an hour later Shana slowly opened her eyes.

She immediately widened them once she saw Yuji, but didn't say or do anything. No need to wake everyone else up and get embarrassed more.

The flame haze looked down at him and calmed down considerably once she noticed he was still asleep. She continued to look at him as a small smile made itself known on her face as she thought of what she had learned about that cave.

"Could it be?" She wondered and left it at that as she went back to sleep.

******************************Shakugan no Shana****************************

Shana finally arrived home and she immediately went to her dresser draw. She pulled out a notepad and looked down at it.

She had come up with the brilliant idea to keep track of all the 'fortunes' in a notepad so she wouldn't forget them at any time.

"Don't be afraid, Love will lead the way" She recited out loud. A grin danced upon her lips as she realized what it was referring to.

The cave. It was a little frightening in the dark cave, thinking your miles away from help. But the cave light up because of love and the crystals lead the way out to safety for her and Yuji.

It was simple and obvious yet puzzling and subtle.

Just leave it to Alice to do that.

Oh my fudge!

...sorry couldn't help myself. Anyway's don't forget to review cause that's what keeps me going!

(1)= Everyone seems to do like 'Her hair smelled of strawberries' and I didn't want to do that so I decided to put in apples n cinnamon. Also I'm not sure if the whole Yoshida having an older sister seemed out of place or anything, so forgive me if it seems like that to you.

Again forgive me if the chapter seemed at all rushed, or if any OOC-ness occured. Don't forget to review! They are the only things that keep me going! :]

Sayonara until the next chapter! ^.^