13. Light

"It's like when God said 'Let there be light' and then there was light..."

"Anna? Anna? Anna?" She was vaguely aware of someone pushing her roughly on the shoulder.

Stop it.

"Anna!" The shaking grew more insistent.

Stop—

She finally opened her eyes for the first time since the train. Fluorescent light flooded her eyes as the rods and cones in her cornea scrambled to make the adjustment. Everything was much too bright, much too illuminated for her to register anything properly. And then her eyes came onto focus.

And then she saw Yoh.

They blinked dumbly at one another, both unable to believe that they were facing the other for the first time in months.

"Anna…" Kino hissed and prodded her in the ribs and the girl suddenly became aware that everyone in the Asakura household was looking at her. "Say something!"

She looked helplessly at Kino and then back to Yoh and then back to Kino, her head growing fuzzy and disoriented until

"You're so stupid!"

Everyone went silent, even Anna herself who just realized what she just said.

"W-What?" Yoh swallowed painfully.

Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking— "You never wrote back, I hate you!" And yet she couldn't stop talking because he was standing in front of her and he had seen her with her eyes closed and those bright spots that kept wavering in front of her face was obscuring her view of him and she couldn't see his face properly unless those bright spots went away— "You're so dumb!"

Kino put her hand on her pupil's shoulder. "Anna, that is quite enough—"

"Don't touch me!" she snapped. "Stop it! Just stop it, all of you. I don't know what you all were expecting. Some proper lady that little Lord Yoh was going to get engaged to. That I have perfect manners and am bright and cheerful and friendly and that I exceed your expectations and standards. But don't get your hopes up. Don't get excited. Hell, Kino can tell you all of that. I'm not like that. So buzz off all of you!" she stormed into the hallway and out of everyone's sight.

She angrily stripped her coat off and slumped down on the ground near the closet, crossing her arms in front of her. Stupid guests, stupid Kino, stupid house, stupid party, stupid engagement, stupid expectations, stupid—

"Wow."

She looked up to see Yoh. Stupid Yoh.

"No one has ever…no one has ever told everyone off like that before."

"Why, you got a problem with that?" she grumbled.

He laughed nervously, not entirely sure how she would react. "Nah, it was pretty cool. Sometimes I want to yell at everyone like that too. Problem is…" He leaned his back against the wall and slumped down onto the ground to join her on the floor.

"Problem is? Problem is what?"

"I'm not strong enough as you."

She snorted. "Please. You don't need to be strong to do that."

He cocked his head to the side. "Really? Then what do you need."

She shrugged. "I dunno. I guess, I just got really mad and a million things were just rushing through my head and…and then everything just stopped for a second and…and what I had to do showed up in my mind, as bright as this really strong light and then…" She shrugged once more. "Then I did it."

"Huh, that's awesome."

She wanted to smile but then remembered that she was supposed to be mad at him. "I shouldn't be talking to you. I'm supposed to be angry because you never wrote back," she said accusingly, crossing her arms in front of her chest and glaring full blast at him.

"What are you talking about—"

"You know full well what I'm talking about, Asakura Yoh!" she exclaimed indignantly.

"You're the one who never wrote back—"

She slammed her fist against the closet. "Stop lying to—"

A box fell out of the closet and hit her square on top of the head.

"Ow! What the h—"

Yoh quickly retrieved the box and opened the top. "Wait a minute…" He shuffled through all its contents. "These are…"

"All the letters I wrote to you?" She blinked, not entirely sure what to make out of it.

"Yeah, they just mysteriously disappeared one day and…" It slowly dawned on him.

"You kept all of them…" She said quietly, looking fondly at all the letters she had written to him as if it brought back all the memories.

"Anna, I think I know what happened," Yoh said shakily. "I know that I never stopped writing to you and I know that you never stopped writing to me…right?"

She looked at him. "I never…stopped. I never stopped, Yoh." I never stopped loving you.

"…And then when God said 'Let there be love' and then there was you."

A/N: yes, I am shamelessly copying and pasting this author's note to all my updates today (count 'em: FOUR UPDATES, GUYS)

other things I'm updating tonight:

1. Critical Condition: ONE MONTH HIATUS. I'M BACK.

2. The Mismatched Adventures of Tao Boy and Ainu Girl: HOLY SHIT, I'M BACK FROM FIVE MONTH HIATUS.

3. Blackbird Singing: on what it means to be a sibling (Yoh/Hao--not romantic, more family than anything else)

PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW. I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER (mind you, I'm running on one piece of toast....I probably should go and eat something now. meh.)

Check out Testimonies and Strangers and that will make me happy.

And...if you're interested in the contest, please go to my profile and clink on the contest info link there. it would be awesome if you commented on the LJ post so it'll be easier to see who is participating (people who don't have a livejournal can still comment! I've enabled anonymous commenting)

KTHANKS. and thank you for all the offers to help out with the prizes guys! I'll personally respond to all your reviews on all my stories after AP's.

I'm so proud of myself. So productive.

Don't forget to leave a review!

happy days! and check me out!: shatteredlyre . livejournal . com