6. Bond

"An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to be together,
regardless of time, place, or what happens.
The thread may stretch or tangle in the chaos they meet,
but it will never break."

- an ancient Japanese belief

Anna sighed and looked at her watch. Thanks to Yoh's little encounter, they had to postpone her so-called birthday by ten whole days. Ten whole days. Anyways, Anna thought the whole thing sounded a little bit…strange.

"You." She pointed an accusing finger at the boy who had just arrived at the train station.

"Hello to you too." He held up a shopping bag that undoubtedly contained her present. Anna mouthed the words subtly, liking the way the phrase sounded. Her present.

"I asked Kino what a birthday was." She crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground.

"Okay."

"She said people's birthdays come only once a year!" she exclaimed indignantly.

He took a bite out of a red bean bun. "So?" he asked, his speech a little slurred due to his full mouth.

"Where did you get those from?"

"They're for your birfday." He finally swallowed and held one out to her.

She blinked, not knowing what to do. She had never gotten to eat such a delicacy before. Kino only let her eat rice and sometimes bread. Once, she let her eat some chicken on Christmas.

"Take one," he said, prodding her with the carton. "It's just a red bean bun. It's not going to bite you."

Anna took one cautiously as if the pastry was going to bite her and tentatively tasted it. "It's…good." Anna peered into the carton. One remaining bun was inside. "Matamune?"

He nodded, sorrow tingeing his features. "Could you…"

She gave her silent affirmation. "I'll take it to the temple after you leave."

He shook his head in an attempt to shake away any sad feelings that remained. He was determined to let Anna have a good day. "Anyways, so what if everyone else's birthdays come only once a year?" He shrugged. "You're not everyone else." He beamed at her, causing Anna to choke on the food in her mouth. "Fine, the twentieth of every month will be Anna Day then!" he proclaimed.

"It's also the day you're leaving," she grumbled, taking another bite. And your train is leaving in ten minutes.

He frowned, his shoulders sagging slightly. "Yeah…sorry about that. But I hafta go back to Izumo." He studied her face. "Hey, it's not like I wanna go back!" he tried persuading her.

"Sure…You'll just go back to all your friends and then you'll meet another girl and then you'll forget about me."

"What! I couldn't do that. You're my fiancée!"

"Don't call me that," she said automatically though they both knew she rather enjoyed hearing that come from him.

"But it's true. I couldn't ever forget about you." He smiled at her and held out the shopping bag. "Come on, stop being sad. It's your day after all!"

She begrudgingly walked over to him to see what he had purchased for her.

"Look!" He pulled out two items to show her. "I saw this in the stand. I remember on the way to the temple you were looking at it for a really long time." He handed her a pinwheel.

She could hardly suppress her laughter. "Really?"

"Yeah! I liked them too back home." He flicked the edge of it, causing the pinwheel to spin hysterically. "They also say that you can make a wish on it."

She played around with the toy a bit before he reached back into the bag.

Anna looked down at the red scarf he had pulled out. "You got this for me?" She touched it. "You remembered." She felt the fine silk it had been woven out of. "Wasn't this expensive?" she asked almost offended that he bought something so nice for her.

"Eh, I just used my Christmas money I had saved up. I wasn't gonna buy anything with it anyways. Might as well, right? Want me to help you put it on?"

She nodded.

"There." He pulled the knot firmly so that it securely stayed on her head. "Oops, looks like your scarf already got a run in it."

Anna turned around to see what he was talking about. A loose thread had come out of the excess fabric of the scarf by her neck and spanned the distance between her and Yoh, the other end of the thread sticking to the cuff of his jacket. A red thread that connected them both. The red thread of fate.

It was to be their unbreakable eternal bond.

A/N: aaaaaaand of course, as we all know since we're all Osorezan Revoir nerds, Anna goes on the stop after his and sits on the train awkwardly with him. meheh. they're so awkward. and adorable. ANYWAYS, aww Yoh left. well, he had to anyways. And I know people will be like "wtf? pinwheel? random much." actually, it's not. so I was rereading the second volume of SK with Yoh's flashback to his training with his grandpa, right? when he was like four years old. and Yohmei was describing the different kinds of shamans Yoh could be and it panned over to Kino. and the picture behind the description of Kino was Kino and Anna from the back presumably in Mount Osore since it's all snowy. and Anna is holding a pinwheel. YES I NOTICE THESE DETAILS. don't judge me! welllp, it would be absolutely fabulous if you left me a review! huzzah! and check out The Heavy Hearts Brigade. happy days =)