5. Betrayal

He didn't want to let her see him. Not like this. Never like this. Yoh had been hoping that things would've been…different.

From how he was back home.

From how he had been treated in school.

From how he had felt alone.

And then he had found her. Her. Anna. She understood. And he could've been someone else. Have a fresh start. That's why….

I wanted to make her happy.

But then Fate or whatever makes things work out the way they do had finally found enough time to stop laughing at his assumptions and wishes so that it could finally kick back in and start screwing over Yoh Asakura once again.

Hey, who's that?

Eh, who cares.

Wait a minute, that kid's staying with that other freak girl.

You mean that weird kid who hates everyone here?

Yeah. He also thinks he can see ghosts!

What a freak!

Hey, Ghost Boy! Think fast!

He didn't want to make a scene. It had never been and never would be his style. He just wanted to go down to the market so he could get Anna a present. But things would, as Yoh would realize later, ever be that simple with the two of them. Yoh and Anna.

So now he found himself, bruised and with several startlingly red cuts on his elbows and knees and a huge bump swelling on his head from where a few of them had thrown rocks at him, staring at the door that would lead him into his grandmother's house. He didn't want her to see how was weak and feared and ridiculed.

He was more than two hours late than the time he had told Anna he'd be back. He cringed, knowing that she would be sad or angry or upset because he hadn't kept his word. What did it matter that he had tried his hardest, his very best to be on time and keep his promise? In the end, he was late and that was all that mattered. Though it sounded silly to anyone else on the planet that being a couple of hours delayed was such a big deal, but Yoh understand Anna and Anna understood Yoh. They knew what being betrayed felt like.

They understood pain. How Yoh's mother would wipe away the tears he had been holding back during the entire school day when he got home. How she would promise that yes, tomorrow would be different, just you wait! How nothing would ever be different except for the various ways the other kids would make fun of him. How Kino would yell at her that the way Anna was behaving was not suited for the future wife of the Asakura heir. How her being the fiancée of the Asakura line made no difference in how the people down at the market or up at the temple treated her. Mistreated her.

He reached up to knock on the door but before his knuckles met the wooden surface, it swung open. Anna's eyes widened and she froze mid-step.

Yoh was wrong, she wasn't sad or angry or upset.

It was worse. Betrayal coursed throughout her entire being.

And both of them could hear how two hearts breaking in perfect time sounded like.

Her heart breaking not because he didn't keep his word but because she saw how he was treated the same way she was. And his heart breaking because he was the reason she wasn't happy.

A/N: aaah, they're sad! =( anyways, i failed to mention that every 10 chapters in this story is equivalent to one year. (ie: chapters 1-10 is when they're both ten, chapters 11-20 is when they're eleven, chapters 21-30 is when they're twelve, etc. up until the end when they'll be twenty-two!) hooray! anyways, be sure to check out my other story The Heavy Hearts Brigade. I'm uploading its second chapter!

happy days to you all and make sure to leave a review! =)