It began three years ago.

Or at least that's when Anna remembers jotting her name down mindlessly on the signup sheet and receiving a call a few months later asking if she's still interested. She hadn't given it much thought and mumbled out her assent while flipping through channels on the television.

It seems that's when it began as well. All the television watching. How Anna would drift through the weeks, groaning and aching because of all the energy existing took from day to day. How she seemed to be floating from her bed to work to the couch and back to bed again. The countless hours she spent in front of that moving screen. How the characters on her soap operas and sitcoms and made for television movies slowly replaced all her friends in real life. How the only thing that would distract but not quite fill that hollow space sitting in her chest and stomach was the opening theme song of her shows.

And eventually she stopped bothering to even show up to work, silently thrusting all the inn's duties upon Tamao who surveyed her boss and longtime friend with much worry whenever she passed Anna lying down on the couch. But with all her newfound responsibilities, Tamao barely had time to breathe, much less confront and talk to Anna about whatever it was she was going through. And so the blonde woman sat, perched and reclined on the loveseat from when she woke up to when the very last late night show rolled their ending credits. Fourteen hours a day of pure mindless television.

Her skin grew pale because she never had any need to go outside. That's why stores delivered groceries nowadays, right? Her hair grew limp and began falling out little by little and her already petite frame diminished even more. She could go for days without speaking a word to someone, sometimes even weeks at a time. During the inn's peak hours, she went an entire month without saying anything to anyone and only ended when Tamao burst into Anna's room to ask if she knew where the extra bottle openers were.

She had hit rock bottom when she received the call. Around that time, Anna didn't even have the will to go back to her room after all her exhausting television marathons and had begun sleeping on the couch instead.

She was roused about a week and a half into her couch campout at the ungodly hour of eleven in the morning by the shrill piercing ring of the telephone. She didn't even try to emerge from the covers, her hand sloppily flailing around until it clamped around the phone by chance. She withdrew it underneath the blanket and mustered up the energy to croak out a greeting.

Somehow Anna somehow managed to throw on clothes

When Anna opened his eyes, she thought she had died and gone to heaven. And for a split second, she truly, truly believed she had. There were calmly smiling beautiful women garbed in white, and when she looked down she saw she was donning a white robe as well. Everything was white. White walls, white tables, white chairs, white floors, white computers—

Wait, computers?

"–and you only have seven minutes. Understand?"

Anna blinked and looked up at the dark figure looming over her, unable to see past the bright light that momentarily blinded her. "Huh?"

The figure laughed and as Anna's eyes became accustomed to the brightness, she saw a doctor's face, serenely smiling down upon her, a perfect picture of peace. "Ah, let me explain again. The wires we have connected to your wrist—"

Anna gave a start and looked down to see that, yes, there were indeed several wires attached using some extremely sticky patches to the skin of her forearm.

"—are used to monitor your vitals. You know, heart rate, blood pressure, and so on. When we see that your vitals are slipping even just a little bit, we need to kick your consciousness back to reality. Based on the data we have from the last three years, the average time it takes for one of our clients to need a kick is about seven minutes." The doctor laughed. "We don't want you joining him now, do we?"

Anna muttered something mindlessly as the doctor walked away, not sticking around long enough to hear or care what she had to say. She reached for her phone, wanting to send a text or call Yoh but then shook her head, choosing instead to contact Tamao. She furrowed her brows in discontent as she saw there wasn't any cell phone service in the clinic and tossed the device back down on top of her bag.

Anna momentarily grimaced when she heard a knock at the door and two nurses swept in. "So we just need a few moments to get ready," one of the nurses chirruped happily, busily bustling around the room and drawing the curtains shut to block out any of the sunlight streaming in.

"And in the meantime, we need you to be relaxed completely. Clear your mind of anything stressful so that the transition will be painless," the second nurse said her voice unnaturally calm.

Anna wanted to snap that both of their demeanors were stressing her out. But instead she sighed and held her tongue. I'm getting too old for this…

Thankfully the two left soon and the lights in the room began to dim, only the pulsating dim blue glow from the instruments' monitors illuminating the dark space she was in. Anna stared at her two feet protruding from the white sheet was under, her thoughts slowing down to a standstill as a woman's automated voice began counting backwards from five. She heard the groaning of the machines as they began whirring into life. Maybe it was just her imagination but the room began spinning as everything blurred together. Her eyes began growing heavier and heavier until she couldn't keep them open anymore. She could feel her heart rate slowing down and her muscles relax. And then all of a sudden, it felt as if a lightning bolt struck her through the chest and blinding white erupted in her consciousness.

When she opened her eyes, she was standing in an all white room, wearing the same patient's gown she had on earlier.

"Anna?"

She turned around, her chest tightening. "Yoh…"

He grinned uncertainly as he waved and approached her. "Anna…what are you doing here?"

"I came…I came to see you," she said, her throat drying up.

He shook his head and laughed. "Oh boy… I knew this day would come."

Anna looked him up and down. "Why are you…why are you so young?"

Yoh blinked before looking down at his own body. "Well, I mean, I guess you're just remembering me how you want to see me. Maybe you were the happiest when we were fourteen or fifteen?"

Anna remained silent as she noted the differences between their ages, she was already thirty-seven and gray hairs were already beginning to show while he looked not a day over fifteen. "You mean during the Shaman Fight?" she murmured.

He sighed. "Anna, why are you here?" He slumped down onto the ground, pulling one of his knees to his chest.

"I just…I just…" she hesitated before falling quiet once again.

He quirked an eyebrow. "You're not the same as I remember. You're not as…abrasive," he laughed.

She snapped. "You want to know why I'm like this? You want to know why all I do anymore is watch television and sleep and eat? You want to know why I don't attend to the inn anymore? It's because of you. You. You…you left me. You were only thirty-four! You weren't…you weren't supposed to leave me. You weren't allowed to leave me…" She fell to the ground, all her energy having left her.

"Anna…" he reached out towards her but she pulled away.

"Yoh…why did you leave?" she whispered, staring at the floor.

He smiled sadly. "Anna, I died. I didn't want to leave you! I loved our life and our family and you. You really think that I left on my own? I died!"

She blinked slowly. "I know…but it still feels like you left. Why does it…hurt…" She clenched her fists. "I'm not…I'm not supposed to feel like this. I was trained to be numb, to be strong." She relaxed her hand. "But then why do I feel so weak?"

He scooted closer to her. "Because you fell in love. And falling in love makes you vulnerable." He stared her straight in the eye. "I would give anything to go back."

She shook her head. "No… you wouldn't"

"What do you mean?"

"I've…I've already tried summoning you so many times. Nothing. You passed on. There was nothing tying you here. Not even me…" She narrowed her eyes. "You never loved me."

He reeled back in shock. "Anna! How could you say that! It's just…" He hesitated before continuing. "Right after I died, I saw how beautiful it all was. You and Hana and the inn and the life we created together. And even if I didn't want to leave, it made me feel at peace seeing you so happy. It felt like my work there was done."

Her spine grew rigid. "Well, you should have stayed around longer!" she snarled. "Now I'm an empty shell of a human being. After you left, I felt like I could never be happy again. I hated everyone and the little bit of love I learned how to feel was sapped away from me." Her nails dug into her own arm. "You weren't supposed to die…I…I…I m—"

"I miss you too," he said quietly. They sat in silence, sitting next to each other in that white, white room. "You know what this reminds me of?" he asked cheerily. "The first time we met each other. At grandma's house? When we just sat next to each other and watched television, not saying a word to each other because we were both so nervous." He laughed.

Anna nodded as she remembered quite clearly their first encounter. A day that she wouldn't know until much later would change the rest of her life. "I was so scared to let you touch me, anyone touch me. And now…I waited three years just to hold your hand and see your face."

As if on cue, Yoh took her own hand in his.

"I lost my anchor," she whispered. "I'm lost."

Yoh smiled sadly at her. "This isn't who you are Anna. This is a shadow of the person you used to be. I know it's hard. Death…death isn't the easiest. It's hardest on the people who are left behind. But you're not the girl I fell in love with." He squeezed her hand. "Come on, Anna, become the girl I fell in love with."

"It's not that simple," she said angrily. "It's not. Do you know how hard it is for me to go through just one day? I just want to give up—"

"But that's the problem," he protested. "You already have given up. What you're doing…it isn't living."

"What, so I'd be better off dead?" she barked before her eyes widened as the full realization of what had happened during the past three years hit her. "What…what am I doing?" she asked in a daze.

"I have no idea, but Anna, people need you. Tamao needs you. Hana needs you. The inn needs you. When's the last time you saw Ren, Horo, and Chocolove? Manta? Ryu? I know it's hard and you don't want to try anymore but if not for yourself, then do it for them. Because honestly, those saps are just as lost without you." He grinned at her.

She rolled her eyes before dryly laughing. "Well I guess I haven't seen those boneheads in a while… And honestly, Tamao has been lax on punishing the Hanagumi waitresses. They keep folding the sheets wrong. The inn sure has gone downhill without me," she said haughtily.

"That's more like it!" Yoh clapped his hands together and the two simply looked at each other. Suddenly a distant alarm sounded.

"What's that?" she asked, looking around.

"It seems your time here is up," he said sadly. "You know, you won't ever be able to see me again…until…you know." He drew a sharp line across his throat. "Until you die."

"Yes, yes, but I have too many things to do before I kick the bucket," she sniffed and waved him away. She felt something tugging her from behind.

"Say hi to everyone for me, will you? And give Hana a kiss for me too. I miss the little brat."

"He's not so little anymore," Anna scoffed. The pulling grew more incessant. "You should see him now." She had to brace herself to keep from sliding backwards.

"And just know that—" Anna's feet began sliding. "I love—" Her legs gave out and she felt herself being pulled away. "You," he finished.

"I l—" And suddenly Anna felt the wind knocked out of her as she was yanked backwards, the white room shrinking rapidly out of her visibility as she was pulled in every direction. Colors and noises blended together until it was pitch black and silent. And then she crash landed into her own body as her consciousness began filling every crevice of her being. She gasped for air, the wonderful crisp oxygen inflating her lungs. The room slowed down and she began to make out the lights, the nurses, the table, the whirring machines, and the doctor looming over her.

"Welcome back to earth, Mrs. Asakura," he smiled a little too brightly. "So how was it?"

She simply stared up at the ceiling, allowing the tiniest, wry smile to grace her lips. She had so much to do! One word bounced around her head as the doctor awaited her response.

Heaven.

A/N: WOW. it sure feels to get another story out. I've been going through a lot lately, hence the theme and topic of this story. It wasn't even really planned haha i wonder if anyone still reads stories in the SK fandom? It seems rather dead as of late. Regardless I hope you enjoyed it! And if you did, please show some love by leaving a review!