The next day Yoh kept an eye on Anna. When she woke up she said she couldn't remember the dream at all, only that she felt like she was in danger. When questioned farther she snapped at him.

"Just forget about it," she said. "Tamao is going to be here tomorrow, so go make your self useful and get some more food."

So once again Yoh was out to go to the store. But he couldn't forget about it like she told him to. He's never seen her like that since-

"Yoh!"

"huh?" Yoh turned around to see Melin running up to him. She had on black pants and a purple T-Shirt.

"Oh, Hey Melin," He said.

"Hey, are you going to the store?" she asked smiling. Yoh nodded.

"Sweet, so am I," she said. They walked together in silence until Melin spoke.

"Yoh, are you ok? You seem upset," she said, looking worried.

Yoh sighed but still grinned. "it's nothing, Anna's just not feeling well lately so I'm a bit worried I guess." he said. This made Melin frown.

"Not well? Why? It's not like she does anything," she muttered.

"Not true." Yoh laughed. He always did when someone thought of Anna like this. "She does a lot."

"Like what?" Melin sceptically said in disbelief.

"Well, Like when she helped me train for Shaman Fight."

Melin froze. She looked up at Yoh, expecting him to look mad. Instead his smile was gentle, his eyes warm.

"How did-"

"Anna told me." Yoh shrugged.

"Your not mad?"

"No, why should I? you must have had a reason for not saying you were a Shaman."

Melin looked at Yoh in amassment. He wasn't mad at her. She smiled

"I guess I did, but, how did Anna know?" This puzzled her.

"Well, Anna's an Itako, a very powerful one too," Yoh said.

'What?' Melin thought.

She stayed silent as they did their shopping. Until she saw how much food Yoh was buying.

"Why are you getting so much?" she asked, curious.

"My friend Tamao is coming to stay with us for awhile so Anna's making me do some shopping," Yoh said. They were at the cash register now.

"She should do the shopping once in awhile," Melin said.

"I know, she also makes me do the cooking. It's hard because if I don't get it right she makes me or Manta do it over," Yoh scratched the back of his head.

Melin POV (In her Room)

I don't get it! She sounds horrible. She sounds like a slave driver and yet…

"Why does he love her and not me?" I whispered.

I'm pretty, nice, and I really do care about Yoh, even if I just met him a week ago. And Anna, she just puts him through training and makes him do chores all the time and punishes him.

"What does she have that I don't, Tomodachi?" beside me appeared my Spirit, Toto. She was a fox spirit ironically enough. I've had her since I was eight years old.

She tipped her head to the side, her eyes had a sad look in them.

"Melin dear, can you come down stairs for a second?" My mother called. I got off my bed and went downstairs.

Both my parents had light brown hair. My father said i get my black hair from grandpa. My mothers eyes were green and I inherited my fathers blue eyes, thugh mine were bluer. I loved them so much, they were always there for me and they spoiled me and I knew they loved me a lot.

"What is it?" I asked them.

"We were wondering if you wanted to go out for a bit, to get you out of the house," My father said. I smiled.

"ok!"

Anna POV

"MAN! WHATS TAKING SO LONG?" HoroHoro shouted.

SLAP!

I pulled my hand back. "Don't be so loud, and her train isn't supposed to come in for another five minutes," I said. It's like watching a five year old.

"Ouch! Do you have to slap so hard?" he complained. I ignored him and looked out for the train. We were waiting for Tamao to come.

"Come on Anna, don't be too harsh on him, he's just exited to see Tamao," Yoh said, walking over to us.

"Doesn't give him the excuse to act like a little brat," I said. They sweat dropped.

It turned out that her train was late so we had to wait longer. Great.

"Come on Anna, we can't help that the train is a bit late," Yoh tried to reason with me.

"I don't care." I said. I hated waiting. I walked outside of the station to get some air.

My head was killing me. I couldn't sleep anymore. I tried and I kept having that dream. It was either that dream, or the one about my parents. It's been years since they left me on Mt. Osore and yet I still couldn't forgive them.

'Hate never truly disappears, does it?'

I fell to my knees as a pain shot through my head. That voice again…

'I can't believe he did that-'

'Ha, when's that bitch is gone it'll-'

'why did he have to die-'

'This is her fault-'

'Just get it over with-'

'I'm just going to leave and-'

"Anna, Tamao's-" Yoh voice broke through the voices and I stood up, looking down.

"Anna?" he said worried.

"What is it?" I still didn't look at him.

"Tamao's here, are you ok?" I looked at him. Yes, he looked worried.

"Of course I am," I walked past him, into the station. "Hurry up."

When they got back they ate a big dinner, which both Manta and Tamao made.

"Making her prepare her own welcome dinner? That's so harsh Anna…" HoroHoro said before receiving another slap from the Itako.

HoroHoro and Manta stayed until 9:30. When they left Tamao went to bed saying that she was tired which made Yoh and Anna alone outside…

They were sitting on the deck, looking up at the sky.

"It's nice that Tamao came," Yoh said, smiling.

"Yeah," Though she didn't show it much, Anna did like Tamao. She never felt threatened by the pink haired girl.

"Hey Anna?"

"Hmm?"

He didn't say anything right away. Instead he just put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her towards him so that she was leaning against him.

"Something's bothering you, isn't there?" he said calmly. Anna didn't say anything. He knew she wouldn't. he waited a good ten minutes before she said anything.

"When Kino-Sama found me, I was almost dead," she said quietly. Yoh frowned. She never talked about her past before she met him.

"I was four years old and my parents abandoned me because they thought I was a demon. The Reishi power that I had made me hate humans, and everything else. It was awhile before Kino-Sama could convince me to become an Itako. She told me that if I became her student, I would be able to control my power. But it got worse, the Oni's would appear. It didn't disappear until a few months after you helped me."

She fell silent as Yoh held her closer. He knew how hard it was for her. He knew that like himself, like Hao, and a lot of other Shamans, Anna didn't like Humans. Because of the way she was treated. The way she was hated.

"Anna, I won't let anything hurt you, you can trust me on that." he wrapped both arms around her as silent tears ran down her face.

"I know," she whispered.

'But what good is a promise when you know it can't fulfilled?'

That voice again…