quick note: for those of you who missed the last update, this chapter would make a ton more sense if you read the previous one! :)

9. Innocence

"Mom?" Yoh asked, as he played around with his soggy cereal. "Are you goin' to the temple again?"

Keiko smiled sadly, almost completely out the door. "Sorry, honey. I have a ceremony to perform today."

Yoh twisted his mouth to the side, trying to conceal his disappointment. "Oh." He slumped down a bit further in his chair and poked at his untouched breakfast with a spoon.

Keiko bit her lip. She had felt incredibly guilty already for barely being in Yoh's life when he needed her most. She nodded her head resolutely and straightened up. Forget the ceremony, it was high time she started acting like a mother. "Why, what's wrong?"

"Eh, it's nothing. You're gonna be late." He waved his hand, watching the milk drip down from his lifted up spoon.

"No, no, it'll be fine," she insisted, sitting down. "I'll just tell the others that I encountered a bit of traffic on the way to the temple."

Yoh raised an eyebrow at her. "Mom…what traffic. We don't even have a car."

Keiko frowned. "That's…er…beside the point! Anyways, what did you want to talk about?"

Yoh let his spoon drop down into his bowl and he pushed it away. "Well…I mean…you're a girl, right?"

Keiko blinked. "Um…I'd…I'd like to think that I am…"

"Uh…yeah. Yeah. That was a dumb question. But…um, say that when you an' dad…before you were married…uh…" Yoh cut himself off, aware that he wasn't doing an effective job at explaining what he was feeling to his mother.

"Okay, start over," Keiko said, encouraging him gently.

"Alright. Well, back before you and dad got married, if he kept calling you over and over again, would you get annoyed?"

She drummed her fingers on top of the table as she formulated her answer. "I think that would depend. At what point in the relationship are we talking about? How well do we know each other? I mean, if he kept calling me after only the first time we met, then maybe it'd be a little bit annoying…slightly stalker-like even."

He shook his head violently. "Nah, more like…say…you guys knew each other pretty well…"

Keiko's mother instincts kicked in. "Like if we had become friends already? Maybe we were best friends by that point."

Yoh nodded so forcefully that his headphones almost went flying. "Yeah! Exactly! Would you still be annoyed?"

Keiko tried to keep herself from smiling. "Yoh, honey, is this about Anna?"

Yoh reddened. "No! It's not!"

She looked at her son and poked him in the elbow. "Hmm?"

He crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Well…maybe a little bit…"

His mother laughed. "If I were in your situation, I would never be annoyed. If I cared about someone that much, I'd always want to hear from them as often as possible!" She grinned at him.

Yoh brightened up a little but then immediately proceeded to frown. "But…she hasn't written back in ages!" He sighed. "Maybe she is annoyed with me…"

Keiko put Yoh's head on her shoulder. "No, sweetie, don't think like that. Maybe her letter just got lost in the mail. If I were you, I'd just write her again."

"I dunno…"

"Here, let me see the letters she wrote to you. She would at least give some sort of hint that she was annoyed in them." Yoh gaped at her. "What? You do keep the letters. In the box underneath all your shoes in the closet, right?"

"Mom! How do you know about that?" Yoh exclaimed, slightly embarrassed.

She looked at him expectantly. "Yoh…I'm your mother. It's my job to know these things."

Anna went back inside the house. "I'm done sweeping the porch, Kino."

"Eh, took you long enough. Go and finish up the pathway as well then."

"I already did."

Kino grumbled and paused in the prayer she was performing. "Fine. Go do the rest of your chores."

"I finished those too." Anna placed the broom back in the closet.

"You did, did you? Even polishing the floors of the hallways?" Kino studied her pupil carefully.

"Yes. I woke up early to do that."

She tapped her finger against her lip. "You woke up before five in the morning to get a head start on your chores? Interesting that you would do such a thing…"

Anna stiffened where she stood. "I wanted…to get my chores done…early…" she said lamely, her voice dropping by the end of her explanation.

"Really? So you dusted all the rooms?"

Anna nodded.

"And read your incantations for today?"

The girl bit her lip.

"And watered the plants outside, washed the dishes, prepared the ingredients for tonight's dinner, hung and ironed the laundry, cleaned the windows, and patched up the doormats?"

Anna's hands clenched up into fists.

"And on top of that, you were still able to go to the temple and pay respects to Matamune's spirit?" She grinned somewhat sinisterly. "It's almost like you worked through the entire night without sleeping."

"Yes…Kino…"

"Impressive." Kino back to stringing her beads through her fingers. "Too bad you only work this hard when you want something from me."

Anna's eyes widened but she still couldn't tear her gaze from the floor. "I don't know what you mean."

"Oh drop the act, you idiot. You obviously wanted to please me so that I'd agree to whatever you asked." She finally set her beads down. "So what do you want? Extra food tonight? One less chore for tomorrow? I'm not guaranteeing anything though."

Anna closed her eyes and rocked back and forth a little on her feet. "I was just wondering…if anything arrived in the mail for me…" she said quietly.

"The mail? Why would anyone send anything to you?" Kino asked innocently. "Unless of course…there's something you'd like to tell me?"

Anna bowed her head even more.

"Well, is there? Is there something you'd like to say to me?"

"N-No…It's nothing. Nothing at all."

"Where…where is it?" Yoh asked as he frantically dug through his closet. "Where's the box?"

"Yoh, stop panicking. Did you check—"

"I checked the entire closet, mom!" he moaned. "I can't believe…where the heck could it go?"

"Relax, it's probably just…Yoh, a-are you crying?" Keiko knelt down beside him. "What's wrong?"

He angrily wiped at his tears. "I can't do anything right. Now that they're lost…it's like…it's like she never wrote to me at all."

Yohmei—

I do not know if this is happening with Yoh as well, but ever since he left Mount Osore, Anna has been severely distracted. She is avoiding her chores and, even worse, she has begun to neglect her training. The cause of this poor performance and execution of her duties is that it appears that Yoh and Anna have been writing letters to each other, sometimes several times a week. When she isn't writing or reading those stupid letters, she is always daydreaming or spacing out, no doubt thinking about when the next when is going to arrive. When we first arranged the whole thing, I had no idea it would have gotten so out of hand.

That's why I shall be starting to intercept the mail and withholding any letters that arrive for Anna. I expect you to do the same for any of Anna's letters that arrive for Yoh. Also, I have recently discovered that they have been keeping the letters. I have confiscated Anna's without her knowledge. You should do the same as well with Yoh.

That way, we can pretend that they got lost in the mail. Or better yet, let them think that the other one doesn't want to talk to them anymore. That is the only way that we can ensure that Yoh and Anna focus on their training. We can't allow for any more distractions.

—Kino

Yohmei shook his head and sighed as he refolded the letter Kino had sent him a few weeks ago, dropping it into the box that he had taken from his grandson's room earlier. He listened to Yoh crying in the next room over.

He didn't know how much longer he could continue exploiting Yoh and Anna's innocence.

A/N: wait. i never would've guessed that this chapter would've been depressing D: aaah, what a jerk move, Kino! jerk move! anyways, we're nearing the end of the first year Anna and Yoh have known each other! ;D in chapters 11-20, Yoh and Anna will be 11 years old! reviews would be amazing! :) happy days! also, be sure to check out my fanfiction LiveJournal for updates! link is on my profile.

don't forget to review! ;D and check out my other updates! new chapter for The Heavy Hearts Brigade and a new story Europe Roundabout!