"Pirika-san called you yesterday." The voice of the driver broke the silence in the car, taking the blonde girl out of her thoughts.

"I see." Was the only answer the driver got. Not that he expected anything else coming from his young mistress.

"She invited you to come with her to the movies. They are going to see that new romance." He took a look in the mirror and let out a low sigh. The young teenage girl was looking outside the widow, her expression emotionless. Just like she always was.

"I'm not interstate in seeing any movie with Pirika, Amidamaru." Her voice was in an even tone. She didn't even bother looking at Amidamaru when talking. "Much less a romance movie."

"Well, if you don't mind me saying Anna-sama, I think you should go." Anna couldn't help but looking at him at that moment. Didn't he already know she didn't want to go? Haven't they gone through situations like this before? And her answer was always no. What made him think this time was going to be different? "It's been 4 years since we moved here to Tokio, Anna-sama, and you still haven't made any friends. Now that I think about it, you also didn't have any friends in Kyoto either."

"That's because I don't need any friends." The only friends I need are far away and probably don't remember me. But that she didn't say out loud.

"But Anna-sama…"

"I appreciate what you and all the other are trying to do Amidamaru. You all take very good care of me." That's more than what I can say about my real parents. "But I don't need… Let me rephrase it. I don't want any friends. I'm fine the way I am right now."

"I still think you should go Anna-sama." He wasn't going to give up that easy. When she realized that Anna couldn't do anything more than role her ways and wait for the long speech she already heard many times before. The speech about how Pirika and the other have been trying to be friends for years now and that she should give them a chance, that she would never see if they were nice if she didn't get to know them and that maybe they would be yadda, yadda yadda…She usually stopped listening after this part.

"So I really think you should go with Pirika and her friends." Anna looked at her watch. He made the speech in less than 5 minutes? Impressive.

"You said only Pirika was going." Anna than realized he was keeping something from her.

"Well…"

"Who else is going?" she was now angry. And you don't want to get to Anna's bad side. How dare he keep a secret from her?

"Pirika-san's older brother, Horo-Horo-san, Ren-san, Lyserg-san and Chocolove-san, Manta-san…." He hesitated for a second "And Tamao Tamamura-san."

"And you really expected me to go?" it was a rhetorical question. "Even if I was considering going, I would have turned around when I saw her face." Disgust was very obvious in her voice.

"Anna-sama, that happened long ago, when you both were little kids." Amidamaru had let out another sigh " Don't you think is time to let it go and be friends?"

"Once a love rival you can never be friends." Her answer was cold.

"Love rival?" Amidamaru chuckled "She never even had a chance."

"I know that." Nothing could have stopped Anna from smiling at that memory.

Kyouyama Anna was the only daughter of a very rich couple. She was born in Aomori. At the age of 3 she moved to Izumo with her parents. Seven years later she moved to Kyoto. And now at 17 she was in Tokio, where her parents promised they would stay until she finished high school.

Anna was your typical rich girl character in a romance story. Lonely, no friends, parents who couldn't care less. At school most people only wanted to get close to her because of her money. Boys asked her out only because she was pretty. No one ever bothered to get to know the real Anna, and that made her bitter and cold.

But she wasn't always like that. While living in Izumo Anna had two friends. The only two friends she ever had. They were twins, and the three of them were inseparable.

Yoh and Hao were very weird when she met them. The memory still brought a smile to her face. No one ever talked to them and they never talked to anyone. When you watched from a distance you would see Hao and Yoh playing, smiling and laughing. Hao would often tease Yoh and Yoh would complain. Then if anyone tried to talk to them they would both look at the intruder, with expressionless eyes, answer whatever the question was, in unity, and then go back to what they were doing. Very weird.

Anna was the first one to get close to them. It was her first day at preschool and she saw the two of them playing with some blocks. She wanted to play with it and then simply sited down and started to play, without even looking at them.

They were both surprised by her action. No one ever did such a thing. All the kids were too freaked out by their actions. Hao was the one who protested, while Yoh just kept staring at her, surprised. Soon Hao and Anna were in a big argument.

The fight was broken by Yoh's laughter.

It was such a great sound. Yoh's laughter made both of them stop. Hao looked shocked at his brother, later she found out because it was the first time someone else besides Hao made Yoh laugh. And Anna looked angry. How dare that… That… That weirdo laugh at her?

She started yelling at him, and Hao laughed. So Anna started yelling at him. But even thought they didn't started well, they spent the rest of the day together. And on the next day, Anna walked straight to them.

And that's how it started. That's how she made her first and only friends. Now the memory was blurry and she could hardly remember how long the fight lasted before Yoh started laughing. With age your memories start to fade away. At least that was what the maids told Anna 10 years ago when she asked why she couldn't remember her third birthday. It made Anna upset. She didn't want to forget Hao or Yoh. She couldn't forget them! So every night Anna would relieve that moment again and again in her mind, making it impossible to forget. This way if the memories got blurry, at the very least she would still remember how it happened, even if not in details.

"We are here Anna-sama." Amidamaru's voice made Anna come back to reality. Back from her pleasant and warm memory to cold reality.

Letting out a sigh Anna started to get ready. Her school dress code was very strict. Green skirt, black socks, brown shoes, white shirt and a red necktie. Your typical Japanese sailor uniform. And no accessories allowed. So Anna, who always wearing a red scarf around her head and a blue sacred necklace, had to take out all of it before stepping out of the car.

First the red scarf. It was a present for her 5 birthday, from Yoh. He didn't have money to buy her anything else, so he gave her that scarf. He said he thought it would look nice with her blond hair. Of course at the time it was too big for Anna's head, so she just kept in her room. Now that she is older, she uses it every day.

The sacred necklace was also a present. The Asakura Family followed a religion that Anna, been born in a family who couldn't care less about religion, didn't know much about at the time. Yoh and Hao's family was made up of 4 priests, and the twins had to follow strict spiritual training every day. The necklace was a present that Kino, their grandmother, gave Anna. And Anna had added a special item to the necklace. Around the, what Anna used to call back when she first received the necklace, pompom thingy was a small plastic ring.

She couldn't help but smile as she saw the ring. The training Yoh and Hao had to endure was severe, and Hao, being the most talented of the two, had to do even more extra training. SO Yoh and Anna became really close. While Hao was training, they would always play together.

And then, when they were 6, Yoh proposed. Okay, maybe Anna forced him to propose. But still, proposing is proposing. Even back then Anna knew what she felt for Yoh was special. She knew it was different than what she felt for Hao. And one day, while talking to one of the maids at her mansion, she found out what she wanted. She wanted Yoh to be with no one but her.

Her maid was explaining to her about a commercial Anna saw on TV. A guy kneeling on the floor and giving a woman a ring. And her maid explained to young Anna that that's what people do when they love each other, and want to spend the rest of their lives together. That once they get engaged, and then married, they are bound to each other until death. And that no one could break that bound, and they should stay by each other's side and no one else's.

And that's when Anna decided to make Yoh propose to her. She wanted Yoh to be by her side for ever, to never leave. And she despised the idea of any other girls even coming to close to her Yoh. And the idea itself was nice. Her Yoh.

So the next day, while playing at the park, Anna made Yoh by two rings with the quarters he had. It took a while for the rings to come out, but after they did, Yoh did as he was told and proposed to Anna. Of course, at the time neither Yoh nor Anna knew what really meant to be engaged to someone. Anna just thought it was a way to make sure her Yoh would stay by her side… Forever.

And now that the ring was too big for her finger she made it so it could be in her necklace.

Not that that proposal still counted. But Yoh was Anna's first love. Well, she believe it was love. She can't exactly remember if she was in love or not. Anna only knows that what she felt for Yoh was different than what she felt for Hao. And that she didn't want any other girl close to Yoh. No, Yoh was hers and they would be together forever.

So I guess that's love, right?

"I'll see you after school Amidamaru." With that Anna closed the door of the car and left.

It wasn't long before someone was calling her name.

"Anna-san!! Anna-san!!!" called a very high feminine voice that Anna knew well. A voice that belonged to someone who even after… How long was it? 4 years? Hadn't given up in trying being friends.

"Hello Pirika." Anna said, not as polite. She turned around and saw the group that was always talking to her. Lyserg, Chocolove, Horo-Horo, Ren, Manta, Pirika and Tamao.

"Anna-san, I was wondering, would you like to go to the movies with us?" She couldn't believe her years. Why the hell was the girl asking the same question she asked the day before on the phone? Why can't she just get that Anna does not need any friends? The person who said blonds were stupid was dead wrong. Apparently having blue hair is what affects your IQ the most. That sure explains the Usui siblings. After school Anna would write to whoever stated with the blond jokes and tell him that people with blue hair are the ones who have a tendency to do and say stupid things.

"I can't, I have plans." Of course, a lie. They just came so naturally Anna didn't even have to think about them.

"What plans?" asked Lyserg, with his accent. He was from England, therefore, even thought his Japanese was very good and he always spoke in the most polite way possible, he still had some difficulties mastering the pronounciation.

"I'm going to Izumo."

"Are you… Going to visit Yoh-sama and Hao-sama?" Now that was a surprise. Of course Anna should have said Kyoto instead of Izumo. What was she thinking? With Tamao right by her side?

The Tamamuras used to live in the same neighborhood as the Asakuras when Anna still lived in Izumo. Tamao was the only daughter, and she was painfully shy. The girl turned red every time someone who she wasn't very familiar with talked to her, and then she had a hard time forming sentences. And, of course, she was in love with Yoh.

She was 3 years younger, so when Anna first started to notice the affection, she had been engaged to Yoh for 3 years. And Yoh was always so nice to this little shy girl. Anna just couldn't take it. Every time she saw Yoh talking to Tamao she would make up an excuse to take Yoh away from Tamao. It was just so annoying. Yoh knew he belonged to Anna and Anna alone. And even if Anna knew for sure that Yoh would never, in a million years, leave her that didn't mean she liked having girls who were cute and head over heels in love with him hanging around him 24 hours a day.

And Tamao was never really too fond of Anna. Because Anna was always taking Yoh away, Tamao never really got a chance to talk to him for more than 5 minutes. She wanted to get to know Yoh and to maybe try to make him like him so they could hold hands, but Anna just kept interrupting. And Tamao wasn't the type to fight back or hate someone. Instead she just cried and grew a little scared of Anna.

They were love rivals. And for some reasons, even if Yoh wasn't with them anymore, Anna still couldn't stand Tamao.

"Yes." Yet another line. Anna hasn't been able to talk with the Asakura twins for years. But is not like Tamao knows that, so what's the harm in telling a little lie? Is not like she is doing it so she could rob a bank.

7 years, actually. Her first 3 years in Aomori, then 7 years in Izumo. 10 when she moved to Kyoto, and then when she was 13 she moved to Tokyo. And for the first 6 months she still talked to the twins every day on the phone. But one day she called late, and they didn't answer. The next day she tried again. And Again, they didn't answer. She tried for a week and no one answered until finally Hao picked up.

And when she asked if she could talk to Yoh, Hao answered in a very weird voice:

"No. You can't talk to him. And I can't talk to you either Anna. We'll call when we can."

And hung up.

Anna waited. And waited and waited and waited. They never called back. She never heard from them again.

"I'm so happy you three are still friends." Tamao said, still smiling "You were so close when we were kids and…"

Tamao didn't have the chance to finish what she was going to say because the school bell rang. Not that Anna cared. She was trying to think of a way to get out of there without being very rude. Not that she cared about the girls feelings. If it was up to Anna she would just ignore this group and go on with her life. But Amidamaru always gave her a lecture when she was rude to people. And it was annoying. No matter how many times she ordered him to shut up he would just go on. So to save herself from another tedious lecture, she would just try to be less rude.

She entered her classroom and sat down on her usual sit. Last one on the row by the window. The seat next to hers was empty. Each classroom had 40 seats, and the homeroom teachers could chose how they wanted to organize their classroom. Anna's teacher, Silva-sensei, decided to make the 4 rows with 5 pairs. Anna's class had an odd amount of students, so the one seat paired up with hers was always empty.

Again, not that she cared. Most of the people in her class were morons. She rather be alone, looking out the window.

"Class, I have an announcement." Called Silva-sensei. When no one stopped what they were doing, he let his piles of books fall down on his desk, making a loud noise. When everyone went to their seats and Silva-sensei had their attention, he continued.

"I have an announcement." Yes, Anna knew that. She heard him the first time. Why can't that stupid teacher get straight to the point? "I am happy to tell all of you, students of 2A, that today" how many days of detention could Anna get for hitting a teacher? "we will have the pleasure of increasing" maybe not hitting him. If she could just get something really hard and aim at his head, then throw it, no one would be able to prove it was her, right? "our class. We have two new students, transferring from Izumo. Please welcome, Asakura Hao and Asakura Yoh."