I walked up the hill that I remembered lead me to stumble onto Sora's house. The sky was painted bright orange and tinted with yellow as the fading sun cast my shadow against the ground. I wiped the sweat off my face as I finally came over the hill and walked through the shrubbery. I knew that the terrain was difficult and that it would take time before I would make it to his house but I also knew that the type of place where Sora lived was a farming area. Not many people lived there anymore but the area was well known for the fresh crops produced there. Many supermarkets and shop owners benefited from having fresh goods delivered to them without having to leave town and buy them elsewhere. Everyone in town did good business with the farmers from this area and all was well but the urban life seemed to have tugged at them as many of these farmers moved away. The area was now a quiet little place tucked away from the rest of the town and only a few people there were still involved in agriculture.

As I made my way through the all too familiar shrubbery, I flipped my hair that was dangling in front of my face but when I looked up a smile came to my lips because I saw Sora sitting on his porch. He was staring into the distance as if lost until his face lit up when he saw me. He stood up and smiled warmly at me, a child like light in his eyes.

"Fumiko I am so happy to see you! I thought that I wouldn't....wait did you run away again?" He said coming to a halt in front of me.

"No! Don't worry I didn't" I said shaking my head and blushing. "I came to see you."

"You came to see.... me?" Sora said in an innocent tone as he tilted his head to the side.

I blushed deeper at this and said, "um... I just wanted to say-"

"Would you like to come in for a moment?" Sora said suddenly with his usual tone of concern and care cutting me off.

"Um...okay" I replied surprised by his kindness.

I followed him onto his porch where he gave me a bottle of water as I was obviously exhausted. I sat on the steps of the porch and sipped the water as Sora joined me. "So I see you play tennis." He said with a warm smile.

"Oh...yeah" I replied turning to look at my bag pack which had my racket sticking out of it.

"So are you good?" Sora asked beaming at me.

"Sort of....well not really, but the captain is helping me a lot, he's great. So anyways how are you?" I replied before downing the rest of the water.

"Oh me, I'm fine. I guess My mind has been wandering a lot lately." He said caught off guard by my question. "So how are your legs feelings? I see that most of your bandages are gone."

I looked at him a little surprised as I had forgotten about the bruises I got prior to meeting him.

"My legs are still pretty sore but they're fine now." I said running my hands over my ankles and then rubbing my knees.

Sora smiled gently at this which made my cheeks turn a soft colour of pink. "Let me take a closer look at them, just to make sure they're healing properly." He said while pulling me up off the steps and motioning for me to sit on a stool.

While I sat on the stool he went inside for some bandages and ointments, and I couldn't help but think of how kind he had been to me. When he returned he lifted each of my legs and removed the old bandages before briefly inspecting them then redressing and bandaging them again.

"So how do they feel?" He said gleaming.

"They feel pretty good." I replied flexing my legs. "So Sora how long have you lived here." I asked out of curiosity.

"All my life....Well almost all my life." He replied smiling and rubbing the back of his head.

"Huh?" I replied in confusion while tilting my head to the side slightly.

"I grew up here with my father, but when I was fourteen we moved away to the city. After my father died I moved back here into our old house.

"But why did you leave the city and come back here?" I asked concerned.

"I guess I just liked it here more." He said in a low voice with a distant look in eyes and a glimmer on his face.

"Oh I understand." I said with a sudden glimmer in my eyes. I had always wondered what it was like to live in the city and I also hoped that one day I would be able to live there.

"So how is everything at your school?"

"Its okay well...I'm still being teased at school because of my name but it's not so bad anymore because of what you said." I answered with a gentle smile remembering his words.

"That's good to hear" Sora remarked warmly.

"Sora, by the way, there's something from yesterday I wanted to tell you." I said blushing slightly.

"What is it? Is it something about your parents? By the way, aren't they wondering where you are now. It's kinda late and after five." He said suddenly out of curiosity.

"WHAT!" I shouted with widened eyes. "I'm sorry Sora, I'll have to speak with you tomorrow. I have to go!" I said fetching my bag pack from the porch, then sprinting back down the hill.

"Wait!" I heard him call after me as I sprinted away, but I had no time to stop.

"I can't believe I'm late, their gonna kill me." I thought as I quickly made my way back down the hill.

I knew I was definitely late as the last of the clouds in the sky were tinted scarlet and the horizon was becoming ebony. I made my way home just in time to see my mother sitting worriedly on the sofa shaking her head. On the other hand, my father's eyes were glowing furiously.

"Mom" I said approaching her carefully, but she shot up from her seat and said,

"Fumiko, please tell me you didn't try to run away again."

"Where the hell were you!" My father interjected in a serious tone.

"Takeshi, please calm down. Let's hear from her first." My mother said trying to calm him down.

" Well what do you have to say!?"My father asked aggressively.

"We..we..well" I stuttered, "Well I ....I was..... I went... Um"

"She was late because she stayed back at school for a few tennis lessons the captain was giving." A familiar voice said behind us suddenly.

"Anastasia!?" My parents and I said in unison.

Anastasia was standing by the door way with her normal deadpan expression.

"I dropped by to give this to Fumiko. My mom said to say thanks for sitting and talking with her. She doesn't get visitors very often." She said in a dispassionate voice while holding out a neatly wrapped gift.

My parents looked at each other and then back at Anastasia. My mother then took the gift from her and said, "Thank you." Anastasia turned away and went out the door but I followed her.

"Anastasia wait!" I called out causing her to stop and her long black hair to fan out.

"What!" she replied in an irritated voice.

"I just wanted to say thanks for what you said inside, you really saved me!" I said with a smile of gratitude.

But Anastasia turned to me with a sudden twist and said,

"This doesn't mean we are friends." Her voice was cold and void of emotion. She then quickly turned away and continued down the street.

"She might not seem it but I know she is a nice person". I thought smiling warmly.