Facing The Devil

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An sighed, flopping back onto her mattress in her green bedroom. What could be better? After that small fiasco at her dad's house when she attempted to get her stuff back, her life became perfect. It was exactly what she had wanted. After that, she had gone back to Ryo's apartment and signed the rest of the adoption papers that needed her signature. She grinned, that had to have been the best moment.

"All you have to do is sign these papers, and you'll no longer be legally attached to your father anymore." Ryo had said, holding out a pen. "But it is your choice, you don't have to sign these papers."

Like it took any thought at all. She reached out a hand, grabbing the pen. With a final grin, An put the pen onto the paper, signing her name on the lines that were empty. As she did this, she felt herself being liberated. She was no longer attached to her father, but too someone who would actually care about her and treat her with respect.

I'm finally free, she thought, putting the pen back down onto the table.

She had successfully managed to rid herself of her father and find someone that cared for it… and all it took… was to become trapped in The World.

Ironic, isn't it?

Soon after she had signed the papers and Ryo had taken them into the adoption agency for them to file it legally away, her stuff started to arrive at Ryo's apartment. One by one, the boxes would start to come in. There would three one day, and ten the next. It looked like her father was glad to be rid of her too. She grinned melodramatically at that, if that was the case, then both her and her father had rid themselves of the one thing that they didn't want in life. After all the boxes had been delivered to the small apartment, Ryo had decided that the apartment was too small for them and all of there things. With the amount of money Ryo had made as a writer, and never spent, they had more of enough to move out of the small, dingy apartment and into their own home.

An had gotten to decorate her bedroom on her own, in any way she liked. She had painted the bedroom a light green colour, and had pictures and all her books lining the wall. She had gotten her own computer too, and it always hummed in the corner, the mouse always hovering over the icon to log into The World. She still used the avatar of Tsukasa; it was just too weird to start all over again. Ryo had enrolled her at the same school that Emi and Mariko went too, so that was always a blast of fun too.

Boy, she sure did surprise the people at her old school when she went there to clean out her locker, Emi and Mariko on either side of her.

"Well, well, if it isn't An Shoiji," A girl sneered as An made her way past her, her eyes locked on her lock. "Too bad you woke up out of that coma, life was easier without you around."

An just smiled sarcastically at her, pushing her way past her and over to her locker. "I really don't care what you think, Alina. I could probably care less if I tried. I no longer go here, so what you think simply doesn't matter."

Alina blinked, An was talking back? But, that wouldn't deter her, she always had a snappy comeback, it must have just been a fluke that An had. "What did you get kicked out of school?"

"Nope," An replied, turning the dial on her locker. "I got accepted into the Junon High School, way better then here. Shame, you have to stay here."

Alina's jaw fell, how the heck did she get into that school? You had to have about a ninety average to get into that school, or else they wouldn't even look at your application. She went to voice her yet again, snappy comeback, when another voice broke in.

"Well, if you must know," The voice drawled, leaning on the locker beside An's. Alina glared at the brown haired girl, who the heck was that? "An's got like a ninety point average. You'd know that, but… oh wait, all you ever did was bother her."

"Who are you? You don't go here, you're trespassing." Alina shouted, pointing a finger at the brown haired girl. "I could have you arrested!"

The girl just smirked and shrugged, unfazed by the threat. "I don't really care. I came here with An, I'm with her, so I doubt it's a problem. Right An?"

An nodded, leave it to Emi to start a fight! She was almost as bad as BlackRose, it was kind of freaky, they looked and acted the same in The World, and yet they had never met. That screamed freaky.

"Now, now Emi," A blue haired girl spoke up, shaking her head. "You know you have to be nicer to An's friends."

Emi laughed, throwing her head back before throwing a glance at the bespectacled, blue haired girl. "That's a good joke Mariko! An… friend… with her; HA!" Emi grinned, throwing a look at Alina, who was standing awkwardly at the side. "Oh, you never get teased do you? Well, you have now." Emi chirped, grinning a big smile at the putout green haired girl.

Alina just glared at the three of them, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "Just watch out, An's a class A act, such a pretender, aren't you? She'll just stab you in the back."

Emi shrugged, walking over to the green haired girl, throwing a hand around her shoulders like they were old friends. "If An does stab us in the back, we'll just stab her too."

Alina stopped, looking wide-eyed at the brunette standing beside her. However, she quickly regained her posture, shooting Emi a look. "You two suit each other then, you're both evil brats."

"You got it," Emi said, poking a finger at her. "We're all evil, and three of a kind. Mess with one, you get us all." Emi laughed, marching back over to Mariko and An.

Mariko shook her head at Emi's actions. "Emi, do you always have to get into a fight?"

Emi just shrugged, shoving her hands into her coat pockets. "Che, it makes life more interesting. Admit it Mari, you'd be bored to tears without me and my amazing personality." Emi stuck a pose to make her point more clear.

An laughed, slamming her locker door. "That's our little Emi, always causing a fight and leaving us to solve the problem."

Emi grinned, flashing them a toothy grin and a peace sign. "See, I knew you two would be a wreck without me. Now Mari," Emi said, all serious, looking over at Mariko. "What do you have to say to me? An said something nice."

Mariko scoffed, a gleam in her eye as she looked at Emi. "You're the worst Heavy Blade ever and your avatar is tacky."

Emi glared at her, her hands coming into fists, laughing all the time. "That hurt Mari! If you weren't in a wheelchair I'd knock you so hard."

Mariko laughed, her hands coming up in fake defence. "I'm so scared Emi, you don't have your virtual blade here, so I think I'm safe."

"Che, better not log on tonight." Emi.

"You sound like Sora." An.

"You do actually." Mariko.

"Emi, you worship a fourth grader… talk about a stalker." An.

"Eew! Sora? Are you insane?" Emi.

"Denial is the first step to admiration." Mariko.

"Stop reciting fortune cookies to me!" Emi.

"It wasn't a fortune cookie, it was from our English book." An.

"Ohhh… well I wasn't paying attention." Emi.

"You never do." Mariko.

Needless to say, they always had an interesting time when they would go out somewhere. Emi would either say or do something really silly or dumb, her and Mariko would try to calm the situation over and calm Emi down, Emi would then say something and they would all poke fun at each other. That was just the way that they worked, silly and goofy one moment, sane the next. Emi claimed their personalities changes so much because of what they ate or drank. Emi was definitely a weird girl, always ready with a silly comment. Mariko had once stated that Emi had a book of silly, comical things to say, and that's why Emi always slacked off at school; too busy trying to remember her silly comments. Emi denied it, saying they were lying, but who could ever believe Emi?

"An," Ryo's voice sounded from downstairs, as the doorbell rang soon after that. "Mariko and Emi are here."

An quickly shot off the bed, grabbing a purple sweater hanging on the back of the computer chair before rushing out of the bedroom. An's feet pounded down the stairs, landed on the ground level and rushed to the door as the bell sounded again.

"Finally!" came Emi's exasperated voice as An opened the door. "We thought you were ignoring us. I mean, hello! We are going out today.

An sighed, putting the sweater on, closing the door to the house behind her. "Nice to see you too, Emi."

Emi's face lit up. "I know; everyone's always glad to see me!" she chirped.

Mariko rolled her eyes. "Anyways, now that we've heard from the peanut gallery, ready to go An? The movie's going to start soon."

"You got it," An said, starting down the path to the sidewalk with Emi and Mariko. "What movie are we going to see today? Let's see if we can actually get there before it starts, eh?" An laughed, the last time they had walked to the theatre, they showed up twenty minutes into. To say the least they were lost for the whole movie.

"Hey! I'm not a peanut! Take that back Mariko!"

Mariko grinned, sticking her tongue out at Emi. "No, I don't want to, you know it's true."

Emi growled at her, eyes narrowed. "Damn you and your wheelchair, I'd love to hit you."

Mariko sighed. "You always say that, you need a new line."

"Yeah Emi," An chirped in. "Forget that silly comment book you have, you need one for comebacks."

"Ha, ha, you guys are so funny." Emi muttered, laughing.

"We know." Came An and Mariko's response.

---

"Hey An," Emi said, poking An in the back as they waited in the ticket line at the theatre. An turned around, hand in her pocket, looking quizzically at Emi. "Isn't that your dad?"

An followed Emi's extended arm, Mariko looking around, interested as well. An's eyes fell on the man that Emi was pointing too; it was her father. He was with another woman as well, a child no more then nine following them around. An looked at the three with passive eyes, before shaking her head, smiling at Emi.

"Nope, that's not my dad. He's at home working on his next novel."

Mariko grinned, squeezing An's hand before moving up to get her movie ticket. Emi grinned, slinging an arm around An's shoulders, leading her after Mariko up the line. "Good answer."

………

And that was the way it was between the three of us; my real father didn't exist anymore, and after that time at the movie theatre, I never saw him again. I heard that he got married to her within the year and moved away from Shimokita… I think that they moved to Tokyo. Good riddance I say, it's easier to live a normal life when your pain isn't walking around in the same city. Life went back to normal, going to school with my friends, hanging out at the mall and theatre, doing normal teenager stuff. This life is good for now, and I hope it will stay like this forever.

But, sometimes you have to learn to live within the moment and not worry about the past and the future

………

"An! Come on! What are you thinking about?" Emi yelled, holding the door to the movie theatre open, as Mariko wheeled herself inside. "It's already started, get a move on!"

An grinned, snapping out of her thoughts, following after Emi and Mariko. "Wait for me! I don't want to sit by myself."

Emi laughed, letting go of the door, before grabbing it again. "You know we wouldn't do that, we can't be the three musketeers without you."

An grinned, entering into the movie theatre, the door closing behind Emi.

The closing of the door symbolized two things; the closing doors on her old life and the opening of a door of many opportunities and a happy life at that…

A/N; . .

So that's the end of the story
I hope ya'll liked it!
To any mistakes in it,

I wrote it at school

Ha, I should have been doing other stuff

I'm such a slacker!

Not really, but oh well.