"Life's hard. But life without people who care about you is harder." -Anonymous.

"Remember those walls I built

Well, baby they're tumbling down

And they didn't even put up a fight

They didn't even make up a sound"

-Halo-Beyoncé

Chapter 18

"Here."

Anna blinked.

"It was locked up so nothing happened to it." Keiko said, as she handed Anna's Rosary to her.

Anna took it, taking in the familiar beads. 108 blue beads, with red feathers at the end.

"That means I a lot to you, doesn't it." Anna looked up to see the woman smiling softly at her, her eyes warm. The resemblance between her and Yoh were stunning. "I can tell by the look on your face."

"Won't Yohmei be angry that your giving this to me?" Anna asked, ignoring what she said.

"Like I told him before, I'll treat like any child who comes to my home."

"I'm not a child," Anna said flatly.

"Were you ever?" Keiko said softly before leaving her room.

Anna watched her go before looking back at the Rosary. She had them back finally. She knew that because of where she was she wouldn't be able to use them but it did make feel a bit better. She felt vulnerable without it. Vulnerable…

"How did he betray you?"

"He gave me up to the X-Laws. That's how they found us." Anna felt the corner of her eyes begin to burn, her head started to hurt as she remembered how he had smiled when they took her.

She stiffened as she felt Yoh's hand cup her face. He rubbed his thumb under her eye.

"Your crying," he whispered. Anna's eyes widened. She was crying? No, she can't.

"I don't cry," she slapped Yoh's hand away. "I'm not allowed to cry, if I cry then-"

"Then it means your human," Yoh smiled gently. "It's alright to cry once in awhile Anna."

Never before had to felt so vulnerable around someone. Not even Hao. She hated that feeling but…

It's alright to cry once in awhile…How long has she wanted to hear those words?

"Anna?" she looked up to see Yoh standing in the door way. "We should get breakfast now. The Knights are headed out early so we should eat sooner." Yoh picked up the habit of wording things around her so they wouldn't sound like orders or that he was telling her what to do. She had t admit, it was kind of amusing when he got tongue tied.

"Fine," she said, putting the Rosary around her neck.

"Whoa, you got it back?" Yoh exclaimed.

"Your mother gave it to me just before you came," Anna said, walking down the hall.

"Really? Kaa-San did?" Yoh followed here. "I guess that's no surprise, she's always been kind."

"You two are close," Yoh nodded.

"Well, like you already know my dad wasn't around a lot so Kaa-San and I did a lot of stuff together."

"OW!"

"Careful Yin-Chan!"

Yin sighed as she ran her hand under cold water where she burned it.

"Sorry Ryu-San, I'm not that good a cooking."

"It's ok, not everyone can master the art of cooking," Ryu said, putting bacon on the plates.

'Art of cooking?' Yin shook her head. This guy not only had a weird hair cut but a weird personality.

"I don't believe it! Yin's cooking! And nothing's on fire!" Nadeshiko had come into the kitchen, a look of disbelief on her face.

"YOUR NOT ALLOWED BACK THERE!" HoroHoro came in, panting. "Will you sit still for five minutes woman?"

"Shut up, I wanted to see Yin," Nadeshiko sighed.

"Well you saw her, let's go," HoroHoro grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out.

"I'll bring your plate for you Nadeshiko," Yin called.

When they left Nadeshiko ripped her arm free.

"Don't drag me like that Usui," she snapped.

"Well do as your told!"

"I don't have to listen to you! I'm older then you!"

"Yeah right!"

"U-Um, is-is everything okay?"

"Tamao!" HoroHoro could almost burst into tears seeing the pink haired girl. Hugging her he said, "I miss you, I hate this chick, she's horrible.

Tamao's face went bright red.

"Alright, leave Tamao alone," Nadeshiko said, annoyed.

"It's not his fault Nadeshiko-Chan," Ryu and Yin showed up carrying plates. "She's just as cute as Yin-Chan here." he looked fondly at the girl, who paid no attention to him.

"Don't call me 'Chan!'" Nadeshiko snapped. "And don't call Yin cute you damn pedophile! She's only fifteen!"

"What? I thought you were at least sixteen or seventeen!" Ryu said to Yin. She shook her head.

"No, I'm fifteen and Nadeshiko's eighteen." Yin placed a plate in front of Nadeshiko. Nadeshiko just starred at it.

"It's not going to eat itself you know," HoroHoro said, sitting down with Tamao, whose face was still red.

"Has Hime-Sama come down yet?" Nadeshiko asked Yin.

"Yeah she came down at seven-thirty," Yin told her before going back to the kitchen with Ryu, who kept muttering things like "I'm not a pedophile…sp hurtful…fifteen…"

"Why so early?" Nadeshiko said.

"Anna-San gets headaches, when the Knights are here," Tamao explained.

Nadeshiko POV

I don't like it here. And Escort that has to follow me everywhere. Not being able to keep an eye on Yin or being by the Princess's side keeping her safe. Why does that Asakura have to be her Escort? He and Hao look too much alike for my liking. How can she be near him without snapping? When I saw him, if it wasn't for the shock, I would have attacked him if I had my spirit and medium.

I looked up from my food to look at Tamao. She seemed to be doing alright but she still stammers a lot and is a bit jumpy. As long as she's doing fine I guess I can put my worries for her aside.

"I swear if you don't stop thinking about that I'll shoot you with this arrow and put you at the bottom of the lake!" Anna hissed, making Yoh jump.

"I'm just worried," He said defensively. 'Why do we let her by the arrows again?' he thought. Seeing Anna, an angry Anna at that, holding a bow and arrow made him nervous. Like she could skewer him any moment. 'Nah, she wouldn't. she's too nice for that and she doesn't want to kill me. Anymore' he remembered what she said last night, about him looking like this Hao guy and that made her want to kill him because of that but she doesn't anymore so he was safe-

THAWK!

Yoh put his hand over his heart, taking quick, deep breaths as the arrow just missed his head.

"Get it the message now?"

"Y-Yes Ma'am." Yoh said weakly.

"Hmp, you really need to learn to grow a back bone Yoh," Ren's voice sounded. He walked over, Jun with him.

"Hey Ren, Jun," Yoh grinned, not bothered by his words.

"You know archery Anna-San?" Jun asked her. Anna nodded.

"You still don't like talking in front of me, huh?" Jun said.

"Maybe because I can read your heart, and know why your really here," Anna said. Jun didn't say anything.

"So you got that thing back?" Ren looked at the Rosary around Anna's neck.

"No, this is just a necklace that looks exactly like it," She said sarcastically.

Yoh was about to say something when they heard a scream that came from near where the West Wing collapsed.

They ran over to see Nadeshiko, Tamao, Pirika, and HoroHoro and right away they could tell something was wrong. HoroHoro was on the ground, clutching his right arm. Tamao and Pirika were pale, on the verge of tears and Nadeshiko looked shocked.

"What happened?" Yoh asked when they got close.

"We were looking around, and when Tamao got close to the bush a snake attacked, and HoroHoro got in it's way," Nadeshiko said. Tamao fell to her knees beside him and took his right hand.

"H-H-How do you f-feel?" She stammered.

"I'm…not sure, kinda dizzy," HoroHoro looked pale.

"We should get him to Faust, in case it was poisonous." Ren told them. Bad idea.

"Oh my God, HoroHoro you can't die you can't!" Pirika freaked out. "How did this happen, oh don't die don't-"

SLAP!

"Shut up, your making it worse," Anna said coldly. Pirika touched her left cheek, which was now bright red.

'She…slapped me…' Pirika thought in disbelief. But it soon disappeared as she saw the Itako kneeled beside her brother.

"Get away from him you-" Anna glared at her, flames in her eyes. Pirika's voice caught in her throat, feeling unusually cold.

Looking back at HoroHoro, she grabbed his arm and look at the bite.

HoroHoro winced at the movement.

The wound wasn't very deep. Actually, it looked more like a scrape and there was no venom coming from it.

"It's a dry bite, he won't die." She stood up. "So stop crying Tamao."

HoroHoro looked up to see Tamao crying, her eyes already going red and puffy from the tears as she held his other hand.

"You hear? I'm fine Tammy," he said, trying to smile though it proved difficult since he felt a bit nauseas.

"How does she know that?" Ren says to Nadeshiko.

"She studied some medical techniques back home," Nadeshiko says, not taking her eyes off the Princess.

Yoh sighed in relief.

"Well, let's get him to Faust so he won't get infection." As he and Ren went to go help their friend up, what happened next was so fast it took a while for them to process it.

The was a small noise as something moved in the near by bushes. Anna turned and stuck out her arm as a black shadow headed for Tamao. It was the snake again. Anna's eyes widened as she let out a cry of pain. The snake caught on fire in less then a second, disintegrating in ashes.

"Anna!"

"Hime-Sama!" Nadeshiko caught her as she fell to the ground.

"Damn it…" Anna whispered something to Nadeshiko, whose face went the colour of bone.

"Anna," In less then a second Yoh was beside her. "Anna, can you hear me?"

"Yoh…" Anna managed to say before coughing up blood.

"Hime-Sama!" Panic came across Nadeshiko's face. Without hesitating Yoh took her from her arms. "Ren, help HoroHoro I have to get her to Faust." Ren nodded.

Yoh ran as fast as he could.

"Yoh…" Anna's voice was weak.

"Don't worry Anna, we're almost there," Yoh told. Was the poison spreading that fast that she was coughing up blood and getting weaker already?

"Not…just…poison…" Anna managed before she blacked out.

When Yoh got to the infirmary he explained what happened to Faust and Eliza.

"Eliza, get the medicine we picked up," the blonde nurse disappeared in a side room for a second and was back with a needle that had blue liquid in it.

"What is it?" Yoh asked.

"It's a antidote to most snake poisons," Faust said, injecting the liquid into Anna's arm. She was laying one of the beds, taking short, quick breathes. When all the stuff was injected into her, her eyes flew open. She sat up and started coughing more blood up. She fell back on her pillow, shuddering as if she were freezing though it had to be in the twenties outside.

"STOP IT! YOUR MAKING IT WORSE!" the others caught up. Nadeshiko ran over and started wiping blood away from Anna's mouth. Ren, who was supporting a pale HoroHoro, came in next with Tamao, Pirika, and Jun.

"What do you mean?" Yoh said, a sick feeling inside him.

"You saw what happened. After it bit her and caught on fire," Nadeshiko said quietly. "I bet you thought she did it with a spell but that wasn't it. It caught on fire itself."

"How would it do that?" Ren came over as Eliza went to see to HoroHoro.

Nadeshiko closed her eyes.

"That wasn't a regular snake. It was a Shikigami," she opened her forest green eyes, pain clearly in them. "Someone's cursed her. And if we can't break it she'll die for sure."

I know, short and not that good but I'm going away for the break tomorrow…or today since it's three in the morning right now. But anyway I wanted to update this before I left.

Helen Wang: I can't remember but I think you can at this one site, I'm pretty sure it's called FictionPress. Check and see, like I said I'm pretty sure you can post it there. Thanks for reviewing.

Nelfayt: I've done that before actually, makes me feel stupid. Yes, Hao was nice. Still his sarcastic self, but nice. In his own way. Thanks for reviewing!

Ficitongurl5335: I know, I love Guardian Angel! It's such a good song for those two.

Koorinosekai: glad you liked the fast update, not sure if I'll ever be able to update that fast again sadly.

Midori no himE: Well at least you finally caught up on what's been happening. Of course you could still tell me what you thought, I love long reviews :P thank for reviewing!

Xeimiel'Ai: thanks for review, I'm glad you like it so much. I try to be detailed without it being boring. My recovering is going great, feel way better now. Sorry to day I'm not sure when I'll update SSR. I messed up and need to figure out where to go from where I stopped it. Thanks for reviewing.