(Just for the record, I'll be referring to myself as either Ankoku or Mayonaka because Ankoku means darkness and Mayonaka means midnight. I looked it up, and I'm not kidding.)

Ankoku: Well, here's my third try on trying not to delete a story...

Dan: A one-shot isn't a story. *Ankoku opens her mouth to argue* And don't bother picking on the technicality of my statement.

Ankoku: Since when did you care about that stuff?

Dan: Hey, I'm 17! It's not like I'm still 12 and the longest word in my limited vocabulary is "awesome".

*Ankoku raises an eyebrow* Are you showing off?

*Marucho steps into the room and sees the two before slowly backing out again* I wasn't here...

Dan: Hey, Marucho! Is technicality a word?

*Marucho keeps backing up* ...I'd rather do the disclaimer than answer that.

Ankoku: Disclaimers aren't that bad.

Dan: That's the point, Marucho, isn't it?

Marucho: …Yes, it is. Both questions.

Ankoku: Would you mind doing the disclaimer and reminding Dan that he's only 12?

Marucho: Ankoku does not own Bakugan Battle Brawlers. However, three of the four characters in this chapter are hers. And Dan, you're only 12.

Dan: One, that was long. Two, that's not fair! *Marucho and Ankoku look at each other and try not to laugh* Three, who's the fourth character? *Marucho crosses his arms* And four, can we start the story already?

Ankoku: Fine, but only after—

Dan: No flames, please read and review, and don't forget that this is darkuswarrior's first story.

*Ankoku blinks, surprised* Thank you. And so the story begins. Dan, just for the record, this is not a one-shot. I haven't done any yet.

*Dan opens his mouth but Marucho dashes into the room and drags Dan out with surprising speed as Ankoku looks at him gratefully*

Ankoku: Wonderful.

Anrui Rikaku's POV

I walked along the narrow path into the middle of the park. A single great oak stood in the middle of a large field of grass. A row of small bushes stood guard opposite a bench that was below the tree. In the distance, sunshine fell onto a group of children playing soccer. A gentle wind blew away the leaves of brown and gold as I sat down on the bench and turned around to watch the soccer game.

After a while, I turned back around to outline the detail of the bushes in my mind. Out of the corner of my left eye, I saw two figures in the distance.

I checked my watch as my friends Marissa Gyounen and Sakura Youki sat down on the bench. "For a moment I thought you two wouldn't come," I told them.

"Well, considering that Sakura was in the middle of writing her newest fanfiction—"

"And that I was really getting somewhere with Naruto and Hinata—"

"I thought we wouldn't be coming either," Marissa completed. Sakura pulled out her iPhone, and Marissa and I gathered around it. She opened up her Pocket Fiction app and skimmed through her first chapter before switching to her Notes app and beginning to type furiously. Did I mention that Sakura is obsessed with fanfiction?

"What is it? Ouran again?" The title was Nuturing Love. Well, that's Sakura for you—stories of complete and utter fluff.

"Nope. Cardcaptor Sakura." She was still typing.

"You're kidding." I looked to Marissa, who shrugged and mouthed, Because they're both named Sakura.

And the fluff, right? I mouthed back.

She nodded. That's it. "Hey, Sakura?"

Sakura looked up at her. Just so you know, Sakura and Marissa are best friends. I'm just the odd one out, although I do share their love of fanfiction, fluff, and ferris wheels.

"I thought you said you were getting somewhere with Naruto and Hinata. Where did the Cardcaptor Sakura fanfiction come from?"

"I can write two fanfictions at once, you know." Sakura paused before resuming her typing.

I laughed. "Sake, you're too much of a spaz to do that."

She looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "True, Ari, but they're both fluff fanfics. I can write two of those at once."

I glanced at Marissa and burst out laughing. She was holding Sakura's iPhone in one hand and seemed to be trying to stuff it in her shirt sleeve. Sakura tilted her head and started laughing so hard that she looked like she was going to fall off the bench.

"Oh, thanks," Marissa said sarcastically. She glared at me, but it quickly dissolved as she began to laugh as well.

Sakura nearly fell off the bench laughing at me. Marissa grabbed her by the shoulder, dropping the iPhone onto her head in the process. Sakura slipped the phone back into her sweater pocket, and all of us finally regained our composure.

"Try not to fall off," Marissa chided, trying not to laugh. We all have a tendency to "get drunk" on laughing, and it goes up to the point where we can't stop until our sides hurt and we're all out of breath.

"Oh, chill out, Maris, it's not like I'm gonna die from falling of a bench," Sakura gasped. She shivered in the cold night air and said, "I'm going home now."

"To finish the chapter," I guessed.

"What else?" Marissa rolled her eyes playfully before adding, "Come on, you don't want to miss dinner. And you know that sleepovers at Sakura's place are always fun."

I smiled. Sakura's mother was brilliant when it came to cooking. Marissa always brought cookies, too, and I would bring a pack of Sprite cans.

"I haven't gotten the Sprite yet," I told her. "You go on ahead. I'll meet you later—I still have to drop my stuff off."

She nodded and followed Sakura out of the park. I started down the path in the opposite direction, but stopped.

Something was here. Something, someone... I wasn't sure. I shook my head and walked out of the park to get the Sprite.

Later that night...

The one thing that was never fun about sleepovers at Sakura's place was that I could never sleep. I slowly got out of my sleeping bag and tiptoed over Sakura and Marissa to my bag, which was in the corner of the room. I unzipped it and quietly took out my iPod Touch and headphones. Heading back over to my sleeping bag, I plugged in the headphones and turned it on. Turning on Avril Lavigne's "Anything But Ordinary", I let the song soothe my troubled mind.

I loved the song. I felt content listening to something that described me so accurately.

Sometimes I get so weird

I even freak myself out

I laugh myself to sleep

It's my lullaby...

I smiled. That was more Sakura than anyone else. On numerous occasions I would wake up to find Sakura on her laptop, giggling about Ouran.

Sometimes I drive so fast

Just to feel danger

I want to scream

It makes me feel alive...

That was me, all right. Always the tomboy, the impulsive Aries, the fierce fighter and voice of our group. I liked the idea of taking risks and being on danger's doorstep.

Is it enough to love?

Is it enough to breathe?

Somebody rip my heart out

And leave me here to bleed

Is it enough to die?

Somebody save my life

I'd rather be anything but ordinary, please

To walk within the lines

Would make my life so boring

I want to know that I have been

To the extreme

So knock me off my feet

Come on now, give it to me

Anything to make me feel alive...

I was half-asleep at this point, and the song died down. Darn, my iPod's out of battery, I thought as my vision faded into darkness.

I couldn't sleep, which was strange. But considering the fact that I'd had 3 Sprite cans and had listened to Avril Lavigne's "Bad Reputation" on Anrui's iPod Touch, it made some sense. I sat up in my sleeping bag and looked left to see Anrui asleep with her iPod Touch in her hand, which was strange. Then again, she was strange. "Bad Reputation" really fit her personality.

I took the iPod gently out of her hands and saw that she'd put on "Anything But Ordinary" on. I unplugged the headphones and quickly paused the song before turning the iPod off.

That was the easy part. Taking out the headphones was a different story altogether. I unhooked the earpieces and slowly extracted the wire from her hand. Crawling over Marissa, who stirred gently, I slid the iPod Touch back into Anrui's bag.

Then I could have sworn I'd heard voices talking about me. Look at them. They sleep strangely.

I looked up, but only saw two birds in front of the open window. Let's go. The two birds flew away.

I stared at the spot where they were. Either I'd heard two birds talking, or the birds were actually secret cameras that people were using to spy on me. Marissa would probably say that I'd been watching too much Cardcaptor Sakura lately.

That was probably it. I crawled back over Marissa, who sleeps like a brick wall, and settled back into my sleeping bag.

I woke up in the middle of a misty field. No, woke up was the wrong phrase. I was having a dreamless night when a misty field burst into my mind.

My dream-self was wearing what I'd been wearing when I had gone to the park—a beige long-sleeved shirt and jeans. I shivered as a wind blew the mist away, revealing a single great oak.

There was a shadow beyond the oak, and someone stepped out of that shadow. He had his back turned to me, but I could see his stickup blond hair, purple pants and—

Wait. Purple pants? I bit my lip to try not to laugh, but it exploded anyway.

Instinctively, I knew something was wrong with laughing, but I couldn't stop. So I lost myself in laughter as he turned around.

Two glass triangles covered his eyes, and as I saw them, I got a rare case of what Sakura and Anrui call "goosebump laughing." It's that laugh where you know you shouldn't laugh but you are anyway, and you get hiccups in the middle, and it ends with that little sigh when you know that you're in trouble for laughing at the wrong time.

So my dream-self was laughing and pointing at his pants, and my real-mind-self was telling my dream-self not to laugh. And then I could feel the glare emanating from his eyes. I couldn't tell if it was a glare of fire or ice, but either way, it sent shivers down my spine.

I gulped my laughter down, and he spoke.

I will be back for you, child.

Then the scene dissolved, and I opened my eyes, blinking in the bright sunshine.

(First things first, I absolutely adore all of Avril Lavigne's songs. Second, I'd like to thank my friends Sayshi and mindreadingweirdo for giving me the names for their OCs. Sayshi=Sakura and mindreadingweirdo=Marissa. As far as I'm concerned, Sayshi doesn't like Cardcaptor Sakura or Naruto, but since there are characters named Sakura in both animes, I decided to make that part of Sakura's obsession. And lastly, thanks to Marucho, who helped me begin.)

Ankoku: Yay! I actually like the first chapter!

Dan: I don't. Sakura's just weird.

Ankoku: Sakura's my friend's OC!

Dan: Your friend is weird...

Ankoku: Yes, she is.

Dan: And Masquerade's pants aren't funny.

Ankoku: Yes, they are.

*Marucho comes in.* Having any trouble, Ankoku?

Dan: Tell her that Masquerade's pants aren't funny.

Marucho: …That's an opinion. I can't confirm opinions, only facts.

Dan: ARE THEY FUNNY OR NOT?

Marucho: Please read and review! No flames, as this is Ankoku's first chapter of her first real story, and remember to credit Sayshi and mindreadingweirdo for their characters.

Ankoku: See, Dan, at least Marucho calls me Ankoku.

Dan: Marucho...

Marucho: Do you really want the truth?

Dan: Are they funny? They're not, right?

Marucho: Well, in that context, they are considered something to laugh about.

Dan: MARUCHO!

What's going on with Marissa and Masquerade? Can Anrui handle not being ordinary? Will Sakura be able to contain herself? And will Dan win, or Marucho? Find out in the next chapter.