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The first few days of school were hard for Anna Kyouyama.
They were also hard for her grandma Kino, who had to walk away from Anna every morning while she kicked and screamed as soon as the old woman turned around. The first few days of school were a nightmare for Kino, who was not in the slightest equipped to deal with the embarrassing looks the teachers shot her way every single morning as they pulled the screaming baby inside the classroom.
Anna was in no way a difficult child; she just had a hard time being left alone by the people close to her. Kino knew this very well, and it angered her whenever "those incompetent fools", as she'd often called those teachers, mistook Anna as a spoiled child whenever she was in distraught during drop off hour.
The first few days of school were especially hard for Anna Kyouyama who, at the tender age of five years old, already had her more than fair share of abandonment and as each day passed was having a really, really hard time letting go of her grandma's hand. Anna was an obedient child; she was caring of others and very responsible, and anyone could see this even if she was just five years old.
Anna could only remember her parents if she focused very very hard on the task. She remembered the faint smell of roses whenever her mother was close by and the prick of her dad's beard whenever he would hold her near him. She especially remembered them saying goodbye to her, and then never seeing them again. There was really nothing Kino could do to prepare Anna from the moment she let go of her hand and said she'd be back in a few hours.
She didn't have much energy to pay to the other kids sitting around her in class, let alone play with them. It was very annoying to her how the teachers forced her to because she'd rather sit in the back and mind her own business. She'd often suggest the same to her teachers, who loved pushing her to interact with others.
Anna was not a fussy child but she did have a temper that Kino had to admit, even when she was absolutely smitten by her granddaughter.
As the days passed, Anna had gathered a bit of a reputation amongst the kids in her class. They felt bad for her at first because she was the only one having that much of a hard time in the mornings, which were usually the busiest and most fun times during the entire day. They would always do a little dance each morning and then they would all share what they had for dinner the night before, and it was a shame she missed all of that because she was usually crying.
By the end of the first week, she wasn't crying as soon as their first class started, but most kids didn't really care anymore if Anna didn't join in the song or if she didn't share what yummy dessert she had for dinner last night. They didn't even care if she sometimes took all the colors during break.
This didn't sit right with one of the kids sitting on her table, though.
The first time Yoh Asakura noticed her, which was on the very first day of class, he couldn't wait for recess to tell his brother about the pretty girl sitting next to him in class. Much to his dismay, his twin brother didn't really care; he had learned about volcanoes that day and really, it was all he could talk about for that entire week.
He was all on his own for this mission. He was determined to become friends with the new girl who also happened to have a very cool backpack with apples on it. His had oranges, so it was pretty obvious to him they were to become friends, maybe even the best of friends.
It had been three days since they started school. Yoh searched for her during play time and couldn't really find her anywhere outside. Much to his surprise, she was sitting in the classroom, their desk covered in tiny white flowers she had probably collected during the first few minutes of break. It had taken him three days to gather up the courage to talk to her.
Anna heard someone say hi, but actively decided to ignore it.
"What'chu doing?" She heard someone ask, another kid, this time a little closer to where she was sitting. She instinctively tried to hover over her findings so nobody could see them, but unluckily for her, Yoh stood over her shoulder, and being taller than she was, he could perfectly see the many flowers on their desk. He couldn't help but gasp! There were at least a hundred flowers! (there were only 20).
She replied only with a tsk, immediately followed by her standing up, picking up her flowers, and sitting exactly one seat away from the disturbance.
"Those are very pretty," He insisted. She heard a lazy laugh and next thing she knew, the disturbance was now sitting next to her. She looked up and tried shooting the scariest glare she could manage his way.
"You know, my name is like a cousin to flowers." She heard him say, and this was enough to get her attention.
Anna turned to him and glanced at him for a few seconds, before puffing her right cheek and rolling her eyes.
"You know my name!" He said out loud as he covered his face in embarrassment. Immediately remembering he was on a mission, he knew he didn't have time to be embarrassed. He slammed his hands on the table and continued, "Yeah! I can't write it, but mom says my name means leaf."
There was a pause. Anna eyed him suspiciously.
"You can't write your name?" She asked, and to anyone looking from the outside she would have sounded a little judgy.
"It's too difficult." If she meant the question in a rude way, this flew right by Yoh's head, though. He scratched his head and rested his face on his hand while looking at her, impatient for an answer.
"I see."
"Can you write yours?" Yoh asked curiously. He didn't have that many friends for comparison, but he didn't know of many kids who could write their kanjis.
"Of course."
She took a piece of paper from the middle of the table and shuffled them around, trying to find her own, and when she did, she showed him her signature proudly.
Yoh raised his index finger up. "That's too simple!" He said and now it was his turn to sound matter-of-factly.
Was he mocking her? Anna was ready to push him off his chair when he started laughing.
"I can't read either." He said as he stuck his tongue out.
This time it was Anna who started chuckling.
"You're weird." She told him, suddenly very embarrassed to look up to him.
They sat in silence for a little while, and when the rest of the kids started walking in the classroom from their recess, Anna took one of the many daisies and offered him one.
This time it was Yoh who was too embarrassed to look up from his desk for the rest of the class.
Anna always had a hard time being dropped off at school, but the next morning when Kino let go of her hand, she was a little excited to see what dumb thing her classmate with matching backpacks had to say.