Toboe: Good lord…this is a long story.

Anari: What are you talking about Toboe? It's only begun.

Toboe: I cannot believe you would go this detailed. Hey, if this is over, can we go and get some ice cream or something?

Anari: I'll be sure to think about it.

Twilight: -waving stacks of papers in her hand and smiling- Hey you two! If you stop getting so cuddly, maybe the viewers want more of Anari's story!

Toboe and Anari: -both blushing- We're not doing anything!

--

Stage 5: Desperate Times

I was completely running out of options.

The fact that Josiah knew that there was wolf blood in me, after that leap that is, I can't really bring up another lie to cover my secret.

I mean, the leap I did was more wolf-like than any human would have done. Who else would pull a stunt like that anyway?

I guess I should've mentioned earlier, but the thing about me is…I'm really different. I know what you're maybe thinking, but it's true. Unlike Toboe and the others, I cannot transform into a wolf freely as they can. I can only transform into a wolf when I have sad feelings. Yeah, it kinda sucks.

But, it doesn't feel so bad. I wish I knew earlier about me turning into a wolf. Then I would know so much more about the wolf inside myself, I guess…she doesn't trust me enough. Even if it has been two years since she awakened inside me.

The other weird ability I have is that I can talk to lost souls. The wolf inside me and the one inside the floating piece of machinery was just examples of them. Do I like talking to dead people? Not so much…

My first soul that I talked to was a stray puppy. I was only three when I first saw it happen. I thought back then it was only a dream, or a memory perhaps. But, no, I saw that puppy's soul with my own two eyes. All it ever wanted was to find a home…like any other puppy's dream.

This is why I didn't make any friends.

Or so, I did make at least one friend when I used to live on Falls Island. Ziggy…yeah, that was his name. He's been my friend for a long time, until I moved to Freeze City. Don't worry though, we're still good friends, and we always send letters to each other on how we're doing.

He was the only person who knew about the fact that I can talk to lost souls. Because, he can see them too. Although even if he can talk to lost souls, he can't see them clearly with his left eye. That's because nine years ago, his baby brother Zero accidentally struck him so bad after being punctured with a large stick. They were trying to build a bonfire, but that only cost them an argument and Ziggy's sight in his left eye (poor Ziggy).

"Hello?" Josiah said, sounding a bit annoyed, "Earth to Anari! Are you listening to me?"

I suddenly felt a jolt and woke up completely back into reality. Here I am, with some little boy who maybe is eight-nine years old, and now he's gone from happy to annoyed after five minutes. What else is needed? Oh yeah, where for heaven's sake am I?

"I heard you, loud and clear." I said. "All I wanted to know is…do you what's the date? I seem to have forgotten what's the date today."

Josiah looked at me like I was crazy. But then he said, "Um…today's the twenty-first of January."

"The year?" I asked, sounding a bit anxious, "What's the year?"

Josiah cocked an eyebrow, "1851."

Dang! 1851?! So…I went back two centuries back in time…on my birthday, to which I was never even born yet??

"Why did you ask me that though?" Josiah answered back, looking at my clothes. Which seemed way too new to even have available in the nineteenth century. "Wait a minute, what the heck are you wearing anyway? Those don't look like the clothes I see people wear in England."

I don't want to give away the real reason because I know that Josiah won't believe me if I told him I time traveled. But I'd hate to lie also, but I've got no choice anyway.

"Well…" I said, trying to think of a good enough reason. "I'm basically not from here, see, I came from France…so…"

"Oh!" Josiah smiled, "France huh? No wonder those clothes didn't look familiar, makes sense now!"

I gave out a huge sigh of relief, but then he still continued on, "So…why did you ask me the date then? That part doesn't make a lot of sense to me."

I stopped and blinked. Didn't see that one coming… I thought to myself.

Now this was hard. What am I going to do? Nobody's going to believe me if I told them I time traveled. Not even this kid…but I do know one thing. He's the type of kid who likes to be in people's business. Not the best type of people to hang with, but…I seriously wanted to know what the date was. So, I've got no choice. I have to tell him, despite the fact that I wasn't from this century.

"Um I--,"

"Josiah honey? Are you out here?"

Josiah and I turned around. A very pretty woman with short, brown hair with curls stick out at the tips just stood a few inches away from us. She wore a huge black lacey hat, and a very lacey dress that seems to cover up everything but her feet. Don't worry though, this woman was wearing really cool laced up boots. Did I mention her dress was poofy?

Josiah's green eyes glistened, "Nanny Iris!"

A nanny? What happened to his mom?

He ran up towards Iris and put his arms around her. She seemed to do the same thing. But then, they turned towards me and then they both smiled at me. I don't seem to get what's going on, but I know it has something to do with me and fighting those floating things in the sky.

"Josiah, who is this pretty girl that you are with?" Iris had this charming smile on her face, it almost reminds me of Leilani.

"Nanny Iris," Josiah began, "This is Miss Anari. She's the brave wolf girl that saved me from those akuma."

Oh, so that's what those floating creatures are! Are those the same akuma that the Earl mentioned from earlier? Whatever the akuma are, they sure do look depressing.

"Josiah," Iris began, now having a serious expression on her face like every other nanny would have, "How many times do I have to tell you--,"

Josiah moaned as he interrupted, "Not to go anywhere by yourself and with strangers?"

Iris blinked and then said, "Um, yes but what I trying to say was never to call any young man or woman a dog."

"But I didn't call Miss Anari a dog!" Josiah complained, "This girl is a wolf! I mean, she did this awesome leap in midair that no ordinary human could possibly do!"

Wow. I didn't know people in this century could say words like 'awesome'.

The nanny just made a 'tsk tsk' sound with her teeth, and then she said, "You have got to stop reading fantasy novels late every night."

And then, she turned to me and said, "Sorry for the trouble Josiah has caused you. Ever since his mom was killed by wolves since he was a little kid, he couldn't help but stock up knowledge and know more about these beasts."

I somewhat panicked a little. The kid's mom was killed by wolves for Pete's sake, and since I'm a wolf, I felt like I was under suspicion. But not to be rude or anything, but who listens to an eight or possibly nine year old kid?

Both Nanny Iris and Josiah waved at me, and then they walked down the hills and up the dirt road. I couldn't help but think about what Iris said to me.

So…even then, there are more wolves running about in these streets.

I squeezed my eyes shut, and thought about what to do now. I might as well find some clothes around here to fit in, but the thing is I forgot about my wallet…

So, there I was. Stuck in the nineteenth century, with muddy clothes and a bookbag that had my house keys, an old manga, my journal, and an old scepter.

But then my eyes widened, I completely forgot that my journal was still here with me. So since I'm in a new century, I might as well start fresh.

I pulled out my journal and opened up to the first page. Just as I thought, everything was still here. I was beginning to think that all the stuff I've written in this journal since I was eight was all gone. Thank God, 'cause all my life was poured into this journal.

So I pulled up a pen, and started to write everything I've seen so far.

January 21, 1851

Hey, this is Anari.

Now, here's one thing I want to make clear. I will be writing everything that I see in this journal, so if you open it, you should be able to understand what's been going on with me.

Okay, so here I go.

Well, it all started on this birthday party that Toboe planned for me. I was turning sixteen, so it was a big deal to my friends. Knowing my history of planned birthday parties, most of them were pretty lonely, so I was beginning to think I was too old for birthday parties.

Apparently not.

Toboe and the others really did change the way I used to think about birthday parties. I mean, they brought the board games, the bottles of wine, the cake and the presents…everything. They brought so much life into this birthday, all for me. (I still felt bad that Blue, Cheza, and Kiba had other plans instead of coming to my birthday.)

Well anyways it started out okay, and then the party started to get better when Tsume and Hige arrived on the scene. That is besides the fact that it was getting better, it started to turn around when my deranged cousin Leilani decided to show up. I'm sorry; I shouldn't start saying bad stuff about Leilani. To be completely honest, ever since we were little girls everyone assumed that I was prettier and cuter of the two. Leilani, on the other hand, didn't quite understand that part correctly. She thinks she's more beautiful than I am (such a primadonna!).

That's why…she's always got this severe hatred for me. She's always trying to make me look bad, and I really didn't do anything to hurt her. But, I never really could convince this girl and I've tried that for twelve years in a row and counting.

I guess the whole being-a-not-so-nice-rich-princess isn't going so well.

Two years ago, she tried to kill me by sending that beast Ushimo to come after me. He always claims that I was his lover, but apparently not!

And now, she messed up things big time. If she hadn't shown up at Toboe's apartment, I would never be stuck here in this century anyway!!

I caught her and Toboe French kissing in the living room. And let me tell you, this was the nastiest thing you could ever imagine. Even if you were the second girl standing a few feet away from the 'stuff' that's going on there.

It was so nasty, I'm not going to explain it or even go there.

I always seemed to think Toboe was a wolf, but why would he go and act like I don't know…a dog?? (ha ha that was actually pretty funny).

I guess you should know what's going on with me now. I'm sort of in an emotional state and I made this birthday wish I shouldn't have made. I guess I'm off as of today.

Goodnight.

I closed the journal, without any warning.

For some odd reason, I felt something warm coming down my cheeks. I touched the corners of my eyes…they were wet. (Did I start crying again?)

That was awkward; I didn't even recognize that I was even crying at all. I guess this is what happens when you start pouring out things that happened to you and decided to just have another flashback of those moments. Yeah…I have this sickening feeling inside of me right now, and I don't love the feeling of it yet.

I gotta stop being so overly dramatic though; I feel like such a whiner…it's not even funny.

I wiped the tears out of my eyes right away. There's no way that I'm going to get over this, but I have to try anyway. It's really going to be tough though…

God, I feel so pathetic.

I shoved the journal and the pen back inside my book bag, and I slipped it over my shoulders. Feeling a little lightheaded, I slowly got up. The last thing I ate before I had this crazy journey back in time was just cake. That soft, creamy chocolate cake…God, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

Suddenly, I heard something twitch right behind me. I spun around quickly and gave out the serious glance.

Nothing. There wasn't anything here.

Well, that was a waste of time… I thought out loud to myself.

Just as I could take one step, I felt something struck behind me. My eyes widened with extreme surprise as I fell onto the cold dirt. No, this wasn't the scepter this time. It felt a sword that struck me on the side of my neck. I can suddenly feel the blood dripping down the side of my neck…

The last thing I saw was a figure of a person…with a huge black sword with my blood dripping on the tip of its blade.