The last chapter. Hope I made a pretty good playlist for all of you, along with some cute little drabbles for you to go 'aww' at. The final two that we've all been waiting for; Anna and Yoh's stories. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks very much for the support and welcome. Please read and review.

CHAPTER 8 (LAST CHAPTER)

Song 15 : Fix You – Coldplay (Yoh Asakura)

I like music.

Not just the ones in CD packaging with an album art of the artist posing for the camera; but the music two people make when in complete sync in melody, rhythm and tempo. We make melodies in the air on a daily basis; we just don't know it. It cannot be seen, it cannot be tasted and it's difficult to be heard. Yet it can be felt if you only just pay attention to it.

Some are more difficult to comprehend than others, mainly because it's highly dependent on how the artist wants you to interpret it. Maybe they didn't want anyone to enjoy the music they were composing.

It was at first difficult for me to understand Anna Kyoyuma. She was just so intricate in every motion, confusing you and bedazzling you with every gesture she made. She was the Ice Queen, and had her audience speechless at her from afar.

Every single moment I've spent with Anna are like songs.

Here are the lyrics.

"Happy Valentine's Day, Anna." I said jauntily, drawing myself a seat besides my fiancée happily.

"You too, Yoh." She replied me monotonously.

I watched her from the corner of my eye hopefully, but she continued to stare forward at the chalkboard in the front of the classroom, listlessly awaiting the teacher's appearance. Gee, it was like I was talking to a wall. A rather beautiful wall, mind you.

"You like chocolates, Anna?"

She raised her eyebrows but did not turn to me. She shrugged. "I suppose." She said.

I nodded to myself before continuing. "Would you also happen to like teddy bears and love songs?" I inquired. That certainly got her attention; she turned, looking at me as though I had suddenly declared mental retardation.

"Are you okay, Yoh?" she asked.

"Perfectly fine, pretty girl." I replied, grinning broadly.

That didn't seem to convince her much.

At that moment Horo Horo gave me the thumbs up from outside the door. Yay. I grabbed Anna's hand enthusiastically the moment he gave me the signal. "C'mon, let's step out for a bit. I've got a surprise for you."

She gave me a weird look but followed without much restraint.

It took me the whole of last night preparing and many tiring rehearsals to finally complete the perfect (in my opinion) Valentine's Day gift for Anna. I'd be darned if she didn't grab me into a smothering kiss by the end of it.

When we stepped outside, everyone was in their positions. Ryu held up a heart-shaped chocolate cake which he personally baked (the one I tried baking practically blew up the over), Manta stood atop a stack of chairs with a picture of a moon in his hand (there's a reason for this, you'll find out later), Horo Horo stood proudly before a crystallized ice-sculpture of a heart and Ren held up a small screen that flipped through pictures of moments her and I shared every few seconds.

Her and I on our first date, us at Jeanne's Halloween party, the first time she cooked me dinner. . .I could see her eyes fixated on the screen, mesmerized and brought back. I smiled. This is it. The moment I've been waiting for. Slowly I pulled out a long-stemmed rose from my pocket and tilted it toward her. "Happy Valentine's Day," I whispered. "You had me at hello, Anna Kyoyuma."

Perfection, ain't it?

She blinked, turning to me blankly. "Heh?"

That wasn't the response I was hoping for.

I tried my best to hide my disappointment. "It's what Tom Cruise said Jerry Maguire, remember?" I said hopefully. "One of the most iconic romance quotes of all time, remember? You complete me?"

"I had you. . .at hello?" she said slowly and skeptically, as though struggling with the concept.

"Deliver the next line, Yoh." Ren murmured.

On the screen in his hands, picture of a beachside formed. Anna was by my side, I had my arm around her shoulder as the two of us posed for the picture. She looked particularly cute; she was wearing my shirt which went past her ankles with her cute black bikini underneath, an ice-ream in her hand as she gave her signature half-smile for the camera. She looked happy. She looked content. She looked so damn beautiful.

"Yoh." Ren said, a little louder this time.

"Right." I said, pulling myself together. No way was I giving up this easily. Not after all the effort I put into this. "How about this one. . .Anna, love means never having to say you're sorry."

"But I didn't apologize for anything. . ."

"Here's looking at you, kid."

"Looking at what?"

I pointed at the moon in Manta's hands now, getting slightly desperate at this point. This was not going nearly as well as I had hoped. She had barely cracked a smile till this point. "What is it you want, Anna? You want the moon? Maybe I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Yeah, that's a good idea. I'll give you the moon, Anna."

She gave me a concerned look. "Are you okay?" she said warily.

The screen now showed a picture of Anna wrapping a scarf around my neck, a satisfied look on her face. It was silly how happy I looked despite how close she was to strangling me.

I sagged, defeated.

"Anna, what Yoh is trying to say is – " Manta started, jumping to my aid.

"He wanted to give you the best Valentine's Day gift he could muster." Ryu chipped in.

She gave me an appraising look, her yes glancing sideways to the screen in Ryu's hands. It was her and I at the Japanese festival, looking up at the moon together, sharing a slice of watermelon. Anna turned back to me after seemingly thinking things over. She shrugged. "Alright then. I appreciate the gesture Yoh." She turned her back at me. "Let's get back to class before the teacher comes."

I stared at her in shock, stung. That hurt more than any slap she had ever given me. In the background I could see myself building a snowman with Anna on the screen in Ren's hands. Numbly I rose to my full height. Something in me had just about reached boiling point. I could feel the rose slip from between my fingers. "Is that all I am?" I said, my voice shaking with anger. "A gesture?"

Two seconds pass. She halts in mid-step; the clock ticks to five seconds as she turns around, surprised. The fallen rose rolls across the floor and flutters beside my foot. A loose petal breaks free and catches into the wind. It sails past her eat at eight seconds. She stares at me in wonderment and I glare right back.

One minute.

"Does our relationship mean anything at all to you, Anna?" I ask.

She still does not speak. Maybe she doesn't know what to s. Maybe she doesn't know how to phrase it. Or maybe she just doesn't give a damn. All of a sudden there was never someone so foreign or alien than my fiancée before me. She was so beautiful, so ice-cold. And I just didn't know who she was or what I was to her anymore.

I stepped back, suddenly lost, suddenly ashamed. My friends stared at me, completely speechless. Did they pity me? Were they already thinking of things to say to me later to try and make me feel better?

"Wow, I am so embarrassed right now." I said softly. I looked deep into her eyes for an answer, for something. For anything. I received nothing.

"You just don't give a damn, do you, Anna?" I mutter.

I stepped past her silent frame. "I hope you enjoyed watching me make a fool out of myself." I shrugged. "Just as a gesture."

I take one last look at her elegant frame before shutting the classroom door behind me.

At my seat I waited for her to make her steady entrance back into the classroom, classy enough not to show any signs of being embarrassed or apologetic.

Anna did not return to her seat for the rest of the lesson.

The cafeteria was particularly crowded that day. Mainly because people kept stopping members of the opposite sex in the motion of buying food to confess their love to them. Some had happy results; a newly declared happy couple ended up sharing a bagel bun together, linking hands. Others not so good; a tearful girl grabbed the boiling soup from his hands and promptly dunked it over his head.

Feeling slightly better with a cold bowl of soba in my hands, Ren, Manta and I tried our best to muscle our way through the nearly seamless crowd. We were halfway through the mass of the lovesick, heartbroken and the elated when someone stepped before us, blocking our path.

I didn't even need to look up to know who it was.

There she stood; breathless, beautiful and unreadable. Anna Kyoyuma, my beautiful little enigma.

"I finally found you." She said solemnly. "You've been avoiding me."

"You were the one who didn't return to the classroom or show up for Biology afterward." I reminded her.

Anna didn't even flinch. "That's because you embarrassed me in front of all your friends." She snapped. "You know how much I hate being in the spotlight."

Ah. It was my fault once more. When was it not?

Manta chewed on his lip uncomfortably. "Anna," he started helpfully. "I think Yoh is – "

"I'm sick of this, Anna."

I froze. Ren and Manta turned to me in shock, their faces of surprise mirroring mine. Anna, always so calm, maintained her composure. It was like I never spoke. But her eyes gave her away.

"I'm. . .sorry?" she said.

"I. . ." Uh-oh. Here come the floodgates. I should stop myself. I should step away right now. I should tell her I'm sorry. I should have let Manta continue to speak for me. I should have let Ren back him up. I should have never bothered with a present for her on Valentine's Day.

But screw it.

I should have stood up for her when Hao teased her openly in front of the entire class. I should have fetched her up from school with an umbrella that time when she was stuck in the rain. I should have told her I loved her every day I spent with her.

I should have done a lot of things.

I should have told her what I really felt.

So here I am.

"I hate how everything's my fault, Anna." I said sternly, clearly. Manta's jaw hit the floor. The turf at the top of Ren's head seemed to curl and form itself into an exclamation mark. "I hate you constantly bossing me around, I hate it when you discredit my friends, I hate how you never return my affections and I damn hate it when you despise the things I do when all my actions have the simple motive of trying to make you smile."

Looking back, I have no idea how I managed to say the things I said. It wasn't just because of the fact that we were in a public place with an increasing amount of staring kids, nor was it because of the possible consequences that might happen to me as a result. It was the look on her face. It was amazing how close she looked on the verge of tears.

I turned away from her, not for the first time.

"I've got to go." I said.

Then something happened.

There's a saying that the simplest notions create the strongest response. A whisper of a secret creates more interest and attention than an outburst of laughter. I wouldn't have hastened my pace away from the scene even if Ren and Manta attempted to pin me to the ground.

But I stopped at the feel of Anna tugging at the end of my shirt.

I turned, and she looked up to meet my eyes.

The world around us buzzed with curiousity; it was in unfamiliar territory and it piqued their interest. Anna yelling at me at the top of her lungs on the rooftop for all to hear and no one batted an eye. Her finally looking me in the eye. The silence. The serenity. Everyone stopped and stared.

Anna seemed quite aware of the attention she was creating. I could almost see the faint blush forming across her features. She took a deep shuddering breath and took a trembling foot backward, her hand delicately slipping into her pocket to pull out a small sheet of paper. She flipped it open and looked down at it, her face screwed with concentration.

Every motion was so slow and deliberate that it almost seemed rehearsed. It excited me to think of her practicing the steps to conveying this message to me.

"I embarrassed you in front of your peers, it seems." She said slowly, quietly, but articulated every word. "It seems only fair that I do the same to myself by tenfold."

I have never seen Ren look so flabbergasted since the time Horo Horo went on a drunken spree and decided to dye his hair mango yellow.

Anna cleared her throat and looked down at the sheet of paper, deliberately avoiding my eyes. The buzzing in the room had lessened considerably; peeking at Anna from behind their trays of food or just simply staring at her in unflattering disbelief.

"I'm not good. . .with words." She said, her nose twitching cutely in embarrassment. "So even the smallest of motions take the biggest of encouragement to do. But just because I don't show it doesn't mean I don't feel every bit of emotion inside." Her eyes finally looked up to meet mine. I could feel the room almost swell under the pressure of tension. And then like a song, she spoke.

"I'm in love with you, Yoh Asakura."

Two seconds. Hao pulls away from the lips of a random girl to turn to Anna in awe. The girl's face fills with disappointment before turning to the scene of Hao's attention. Her eyes fall upon Anna's frame at 5 seconds. Manta releases his drink from his grip in shock; the cup hits the ground and spills across the cafeteria floor. I feel it splash against my left shoe at 12 seconds. The piece of paper slips out of Anna's hands and hits the floor at 20 seconds. She bites her lower lip uncomfortably but her eyes not once do they stray from mine.

2 minutes clock by.

We didn't say much after that.

She shrugs sheepishly, completely out in the cold in the center of the fray. "And I really appreciate your Valentine's Day gift. It was the sweetest thing anyone has ever given me since last year."

I licked my dry lips. "What was the sweetest thing you received last year?" I asked throatily.

She looked down at her feet, suddenly taking keen interest in the design. "The Valentine's Day gift you gave me last year." She muttered.

3 minutes ago I thought I never wanted to see her again.

2 minutes ago and I received the greatest shock of my life.

Exactly 1 year ago I thought I didn't matter to her at all.

It's one year later now and she still remembers what I did.

Time stops. I want to kiss her and never let her go.

The cafeteria is strangely quiet.

She bit her lip, wringing her hands by her sides in exasperation. "You bloody know how much I hate being in the spotlight, Yoh Asakura."

It takes me less than a second to step forward and hold her in my arms. She smells so sweet.

"I can't believe I just did that." She muttered.

I laughed nervously. "I can't believe it either." I said.

I try my best to hide my smile. It's incredibly difficult. With considerable difficulty I try to shift my attention to something else. Maybe that piece of paper that fell out of Anna's hands. I glance at it, trying to make out her cute handwriting.

It takes me 2 seconds to see the sheet in full view.

It takes me 3 seconds to realize the piece of paper is blank.

I hold her closer to me and she does not let go.

"I had you at hello." She said quietly. "You had me when you turned around."

The song ends, the crowd rises to their feet; thunderous applause.

God, I love music so damn much.

I love you, Anna Kyoyuma. You are my silent symphony.

Song 16 : Bloodstream - Stateless (Anna Kyoyuma)

23 years ago I met a silly boy who stood in my way on my way home.

I'll never forget the look on his face when I first spoke to him. Obviously what I said to him was not the most romantic of words, neither the most poignant. I think I either told him to 'get out of my way and die' or 'roll over, get hit by a bus continuously and die.' It's definitely one of the two but I can't quite put my finger on it. I must make a mental note to ask him sometime; I'm sure his reply will be most amusing.

It's a month after our first meeting when I send him off on the train. I turn my back to him as the train goes off with him as one of the passengers. I can see him waving goodbye at me from the corner of my eye but I refuse to return the gesture. It's unladylike to exchange farewells with tears in your eyes.

I wasn't supposed to fall in love with him.

But there are some things in life that just slip from your grasp and you plunge face-first into it; feeling fear, wincing to pain, having uncontrollable laughter and falling in love. It's an odd sensation that I never quite expected to feel. It catches you by surprise and forces you to delve deep and find out more about yourself as you grow closer to them. You experience things with them, you're forced to share things with them by impulse and you grow steadily more emotionally attached to them.

Four years ago I held him in my arms as he cried over Silva's passing and told him I'd look after him. I never expected that I'd mean every word with such fervor.

Five years ago he popped out of a box outside a movie theatre as a birthday present for me. I have never wanted to hit someone and kiss someone so passionately as I did in that exact moment.

Two years back, Horo Horo brings us to his family ski lodge and tells me the story of the innocent villager who melted the beast's ice-cold heart.

I remember back in the day when I used to be able to read minds. It was quite a powerful ability; something which oddly enough only Yoh's brother seems to have in common with me. Till this day he still holds the godly power to read past the layer of human projection and stare deep into your soul without even requiring eye contact.

As much as I was relieved to be released from a million thoughts of strangers swarming through my mind continuously, I found myself vulnerable and weak without it – oddly enough, because I could not tell what Yoh was thinking anymore.

I used to be able to read him like a book. When he was training I knew when to stop him right before he had a mental breakdown. I knew what he felt like eating before he said a word so I could hire Manta to buy the food for him beforehand. I could hear him counting down the days before the release of Boblove's upcoming CD. I could hear when he was yearning for my attention even with his eyes shut and his headphones over his ears.

Now all I hear is the silence.

And somehow he knew.

"Reading minds is severely overrated." He said out-of-the-blue to me one day when we were relaxing on the porch watching the sun set. "The human mind is so much more complex than we care to imagine."

I remember raising my eyebrows at him. "Precisely. So what better way to find out what someone feels than probing into their head itself?"

He gave me a sheepish smile. "People never know what they really want, Anna. Years of you reading my mind should exemplified that fact quite clearly."

"Nope." I replied haughtily. "I know exactly how you feel about me."

His lips twitched in amusement. "Really?" he said. "Which would be?"

"That I'm cruel, arrogant, a slave-driver and a generally bad cook." I replied without a moment's hesitation. "And I accept that. But that doesn't mean I'm going to not be your wife anymore just because you hate me."

He sat up at that moment, grinning at me cheekily. "That's where you're wrong, Anna. There's so much more to the human than just impulsion to your actions like chemical reactions to two substances mixing." I was finding it difficult to look at him now; he was staring at me intensely with an odd look in his eye. I decided to turn my attention to the blood red sky. "People never know what they want. A girl tells them to run 10km in 20 minutes and the first thing they want to do is escape. Obviously a girl who holds the capabilities to read minds will thus realize he finds her an irritant. Yet she can't read the message deep beneath his subconscious. He wants to escape from the chore. But he wants to run back to her arms."

Taken by surprise, I looked up to meet his eyes.

He smiled. "Can you read what I'm thinking right now, Anna?" he whispered softly.

I cannot find an answer.

"What's my body language saying?" he coaxes me encouragingly. "What can you tell from my actions?"

The first thing I can't help but notice are his eyes, never breaking contact with mine unflinchingly. It's oddly uncharacteristic of Yoh to dare to look at me without wincing in expectation of a slap. The next thing I notice is his body position and how it's steadily leaning in closer toward me. Next thing are the placement of his hands; one keeps him in balance from toppling over the side of the porch, the other edging his body continuously closer to me. Last is the steady rise and fall of his beating chest from inside his unbuttoned shirt.

"What am I thinking right now, Anna?"

I licked my dry lips.

"You're hungry for fried chicken."

He chuckled, unfazed. He's closer to me now, I can feel his ragged breath on my face. "How complex the human mind is, pretty girl." He muttered. "A mass of dials and fixtures like the parts making up a clock. And we can only read a few."

His hand placed itself over mine. It was surprisingly warm.

He smiled. "And those perhaps not accurately."

Uncharacteristically, I leaned forward to kiss him. I was taken aback. I could tell he was too, because when I pulled away his eyes were widened and he was staring at me in shock. I swallowed. "I thought that was what you were trying to hint me to do." I said sheepishly.

His face broke into a smile and chuckled. "You still read me like a book, Anna." He said softly. He leaned back, grinning. "Okay. What am I thinking now?"

It's a no-brainer that I kiss him again.

We're eight years old when he proposes to me with a lily in his hand.

I tell him to grow up and wait till he matures so he can propose to me properly.

It's ten months ago and he proposes to me in front of all his friends. In the living room, without getting on one knee, with his hands in his pockets and without a ring.

We've gone so far; Yoh and I, but some things just remain the same.

I never meant to fall for him.

I'm supposed to fall in love with someone of perfection. They're supposed to smart, funny, incredibly handsome and wealthy. Hopefully good at a musical instrument of some kind as well. They should be well-versed so they can read poetry to me at night before I go to bed. I wanted somebody as suave as Hao, as athletic as Ren, as great a chef as Ryu, as rich as Manta, as devoted as Faust, as passionate as Horo Horo, as gentle as Lyserg, as open as Chocolove and as loyal as Amidamaru.

Instead I fell for Yoh Asakura; the boy with heart.

The boy with miles and miles of heart.

Song 17: Stolen – Dashboard Confessional

Yoh's Wedding Message for Anna:

What people except from others is common courtesy. To have someone look them in the eyes when they speak, to have someone laugh at their jokes, to smile and have the person receiving to smile back. What people want and need is just a little warmth.

You're different. It's peculiar. It's foreign. It's new.

And for that exactly reason I cannot stray my eyes away from you.

You don't reply to all my messages, you don't laugh at all my stupid crummy jokes, you never call back when I give you a missed call.

Yet you always seem to smile back.

I guess that's why I love you so much.

You were the girl whom I told myself I could never get. You were the girl who kept her head up high while the world watched you, speechless with wonder. And I can't help myself but stop and stare.

You're the girl out of my reach, the girl of my dreams, the girl who stole my heart, the girl who caught me by surprise by turning around and falling back in love with me.

You're like a symphony; a musical masterpiece I could never learn to play.

I'm the guy for you. I know you constantly tell me you don't believe in destiny but I believe that you and I were meant for each other. You've just yet to see that.

Just you wait. I'll open your eyes.

I'll prove to you that you've had them shut all along.

Anna's Wedding Message for Yoh:

Yeah. I love you too.

END CHAPTER 8 (LAST CHAPTER)

Hope you all enjoyed it! Please let me know in your reviews which was your favourite story from all of the characters! Personally I enjoyed Hao and Ren's ones the most. Please give a review after reading the story to let me know what you think. Thanks and regards, have a great one!