4. Friendship

"Well, would you ever have guessed?" Kino asked in wonderment.

Matamune didn't reply, opting to stand and gape at the scene he and Kino were witnessing through the ajar door that led into Anna's room.

"Dumbstruck?" Kino asked, this time to tease Matamune.

The cat nodded slowly. The two had been watching Anna and Yoh for the past five minutes as they sat next to each other. Civilly sat next to each other. At first, Matamune thought that perhaps his poor boy had been coerced and forced into doing Anna's bidding but from the looks of it, Yoh appeared to be there on his own accord. "I cannot believe it."

"Neither can I," Kino said, beginning to walk away. "Come now, you know it's rude to eavesdrop and stare."

But Matamune was unable to tear his gaze from the very extraordinary spectacle he was witnessing.

Anna, in the meantime, had been sitting in front of the TV, absolutely stewing. She didn't even need her mind reading abilities to be able to hear Matamune and Kino outside the room. Already embarrassed enough to have a boy in her room for the first time, she didn't need those two oldies watching them and commentating.

Matamune heard Anna mumble something along the lines of "I'll be right back. I'm going to get some water." He reeled back rather belatedly as he saw the furious girl stomping towards him.

"Ah…h-hello, Miss Anna," he stuttered out as she took two quick steps to completely exit the room and shut the door behind her.

She glared daggers at him, her hands digging into her arms as she crossed them in front of her chest. "Don't try that with me."

Matamune had been able to regain his standard cool and collected composure as he could barely keep from grinning up at the infuriated child. "So…"

"What?" she snapped even though she already knew what he was thinking about. Matamune's inner, mental snickers rang around in her head mockingly.

"It appears that you have gotten…quite comfortable around Yoh. Perhaps you are…I do not know…dare I say, fond of the boy?" he posited in a faux-offhanded manner.

Anna's eyes bugged out, her mouth dropped, and her hands balled up into fists. And of course, her face was absolutely on fire. It was one thing to read his thoughts on the matter but to actually hear that stupid little anthropomorphic cat say it out loud? How preposterously humiliating!

"N-No!" came her ever so scathing, eloquent reply.

The cat smirked back, the corners of his mouth threatening to pull back into a loud guffaw. "Despite your…avid protests, it looks like Anna has a new friend."

"We're not friends," she replied curtly, as if to not even grace such a ludicrous idea with a reaction. "By no means."

"By no means?"

"By no means," she said with a note of finality in her voice.

"So if you are neither fond of nor friends with him, you should not be self-conscious, hmm?" he asked, challenging her flimsy claims.

"I am not…self-conscious!" she spluttered out. "Can't you go away already? I'm missing Awayaringo because of you." She jumped a bit when she heard the dulcet notes of the enka singer be suddenly replaced by the crooning of a reggae artist, no doubt Yoh timidly changing the channel to watch that Bob Love character he kept yammering about.

"Oh! I'm not the one forcing you to miss your program. You didn't have to come out here to speak to me!" Matamune's grin looked like it would stretch off of his face.

"And have you spying on us the entire time?" Anna asked incredulously. "Over my dead body."

"But you do not like the boy, why would you care that I'm spying on you?"

Anna was left speechless.

"So you are self-conscious!" he laughed. "Ah, well, I suppose I should just leave you be with your friend now." The cat walked away, quite satisfied with himself.

I swear, if I have to go through this every time I am around a boy I'm…I'm…I'm never going to spend time with a boy again! she thought resolutely to herself. They'll have to yank me by the hair and chain me to a chair to get me to be around a boy! She stood there, jaw clenched.

The door slowly slid open. Yoh poked his head outside a bit shyly. "Anna?"

She jerked forward in surprise and turned around. "What do you want?" she snapped.

He shrunk back a little into the room. "I…I was just getting a little worried. You were away for a long time. I thought something might have happened," he explained sheepishly. "Sorry…"

"Uh…no. Nothing of importance happened," she said grumpily, thinking of her little talk with Matamune just a few seconds earlier.

Yoh straightened up a bit, his face brightening. "Oh, then do you want to go back to watching the TV show?" he asked hopefully.

Anna mentally slapped her forehead. So much for yanking me by the hair and chaining me to a chair. "Okay," she said a little too excitedly. "But we'll be watching Awayaringo. Not that Bob Love," she said darkly to make up for her emphatic tone which could have been misinterpreted as happy and agreeable.

Yoh broke out into an uncertain half-smile, not sure if she would beat him up for changing the channel without asking her.

It looks like Anna has a new friend.

That's what he had said. Anna trailed behind Yoh, her steps eventually coming to a stop a few feet from where he was sitting. She stared at his back. Friend? Was Yoh her friend? More importantly, what was a friend? She had never known. She had never heard the word spoken really, much less in regards to whether she was someone's friend. The only reason she had even known the word existed was from the countless hours of television she watched, the numerous books she had immersed herself in.

From what she gathered from her only outlets of knowledge concerning this "friendship" concept, friends…well, friends laughed together. They talked. They made each other happy and smile. They comforted each other when they were sad or upset. They spent time together doing things they enjoyed. They gave each other gifts sometimes when it was their birthday.

Yoh made her laugh whenever he tripped down the stairs or walked into a door. It was laughter at his expense but it was still laughter. And sometimes he would laugh at himself too in embarrassment.

She had been surprised when she felt happier than usual when Yoh shrugged off her insults and said that he'd stay with her. She'd smiled, of course, only when she returned to her room by herself. But still.

He made her feel better every time she came back from running errands and the villagers or Kino had been mean to her. He always touched her shoulder or her wrist and told her she'd be okay whenever she was recovering from an oni possession.

They had been watching their favorite shows together for the past couple of days. Or sometimes he would walk with her when she wanted to look at the trees outside. Or she would begrudgingly listen to whatever record Yoh had excitedly promised she'd love. (It almost always was a Bob Love CD and she discovered that she hated Bob Love. With a fiery, burning passion).

She never really knew when her birthday was since she was an orphan when Kino had taken in. When she told Yoh this, his jaw dropped. Then he subsequently protested that she had to have a birthday. After a few minutes of silence, he officially told her, with an air of formality, that from here on out, her birthday would be celebrated on the tenth of every month. She told him that the tenth was coming up this Friday. He nodded and said that that was how he had planned it and told her that he was going to surprise her with something awesome.

Anna had cringed a bit. She didn't really like surprises.

Yoh turned around on the floor and motioned for her to join him in watching. She walked over and sat down. She didn't really know what the exact definition of friend was but she decided that maybe Yoh could be her first one. Maybe.

A/N: this was a light-hearted, cute little chapter to write. Thank you so much for your support in your reviews! They really cheered me up and encouraged me a ton. I've just published a new story The Heavy Hearts Brigade which I've had sitting around on my computer for the past several months. I don't know why I never got around to posting it. I hope you do enjoy this chapter and The Heavy Hearts Brigade (which is going to be my last planned dramatic piece on this site). I encourage you all, if you have any story requests, do leave them in your reviews! Just tell me the pairing, a situation, title name, prompt, anything you desire. And I'll make it happen =) happy days to you all! it would be lovely if you reviewed.