Author's Note: Since the readers of my other Shugo Chara fic have mostly voted for another shugo chara fic, their wish is (temporarily ;D) my command. Anyway, this was supposed to be just a slight teaser for the story, a somewhat but not really PROLOGUE-esque sort of chapter but once again I have made it into real chapter. Enjoy! ^.^

Title: Jagged Pieces

Description: Again, this story features all the characters but focuses on Amuto. I'm a little full with the historical stuff of my other fic so I'm going all out teenage angst and modern day adolescents. So yeah, I cut up all the age gaps and made most of them only a year or two apart. I'm not following the real age spacing so they could end up in a single school at the same year.

Summary: After the hell she went through a year and as half ago, the only thing Hinamori Amu wants now is to be a normal high school girl. She wanted nothing to do with the outcasts of school who she attended therapy with. Little did she know that the people she would meet there were similar to her in more ways than she could ever deem possible.

Disclaimer: Sorry, I could keep trying to blackmail PeachPit but it would happen in a million years even if my possible reincarnation continued on my practice so NO I don't own Shugo Chara. :)

Enjoy! :D

-OoO-

Chapter 1 Home Sweet Home

Amu stared at the unfamiliar ceiling of her old room and tried to remember the last time she had been in here. She was 15 then – and she had been determined to leave this place.

What exactly had she left behind, or a better question yet, what exactly had she returned to, a year and a half later?

Ami had grown – she knew that much, but she couldn't quite place the little blonde girl who used to cling to her leg when she was frightened in that older girl that glared at her hatefully the moment she had passed the threshold of her old home.

Amu had been surprised by Ami's manner of greeting her after such a long time but she decided not to broach the subject. Ami seem disinclined to talk to her throughout dinner while her parents fussed over her nonstop.

She was thankful that Ami had finally gotten out of the hospital at least. The last time she had seen her younger sister she had been stuck with countless tubes and surrounded by various beeping machines. Whenever she had gone to the hospital then, she had only come out more dejected and miserable than before. Now Ami was standing and living a normal life – she was glad she had achieved something good from the atrocities she had done.

This was the sister she had sacrificed so much for – but why was it that she felt no sense of victory? It was only gratitude to whoever it was that saved her from the white prison.

She turned onto her side and inhaled the scent of the new mattress she lied on. Her eyes scanned the dim room and realized than everything was new. From her closet, to her bed, to her study desk – everything was brand new. There was no hint of the old room she used to inhabit – it was as if they had erased her previous existence in this house

Like she had died and a new person had come home to this room. Not their daughter Hinamori Amu – but the stranger who had just returned from rehab. Amu felt like a foster child under this roof and she didn't like it one bit.

She stretched herself fully and found that her feet did not even touch the edge of the bed. Her bed before had been much smaller and she assumed that they thought she couldn't have been expected to sleep in a cramped bed. Amu wouldn't have minded anyway, seeing as how the hard floor of her room was more comfortable to sleep in after the lonely night in the Asylum; it wouldn't have bothered her very much if the bed a bit restricted.

She wasn't tired, nor was she sleepy so she sat up quietly and climbed out of bed. Amu ambled towards the little balcony of her room and stared out into the streets that had once been her home – and in truth, a small part of her still felt that it was.

The long nights she had been part of so long ago were still vivid memories in her mind. Watching the stars glimmer all night freely but hiding in the shadows come sunrise – she wished she could still do it one more time. But that was impossible. This wasn't the same place and the only person she considered her friend back then wasn't by her side anymore.

Without really thinking, she climbed atop the metal railings with ease and jumped down to the top of the concrete fence around their house as lithe and graceful as a cat. She jumped off the wall and landed on the balls of her feet. She kept silent for a minute and watched her surroundings.

Yes, it was this feeling, she thought to herself, the feeling of being the only person in the world.

The feeling clung to her and she felt more relaxed, more familiar with the environment. She didn't like it inside that suffocating room. It felt too small for her, too cramped for her to be reassured that it wasn't another cell in the Asylum.

It was when she glanced down that she realized her lack of footwear. Amu just shrugged and continued on; she had survived long enough without shoes, what could one more night without them do to her? But then again, most of those times, she had only walked on smooth marble.

The rough and weathered road felt strange and alien to the delicate soles of her feet but Amu still walked forward, making as little noise as possible. She had already mastered the art of stealth since long ago.

She was glad that she still wore the clothes the Asylum had given her as a last gift. The sweater protected her from the night chill she had not felt against her skin in such a long time. She continued on aimlessly, going nowhere in particular. There were places she passed that seemed familiar to her but most of it she could not remember very well.

She could not even remember what it had been like when she had walked through these streets as an innocent little child. She walked pass streetlight after streetlight, thinking of how she always used to pass through these streets.

There was a faint memory of a rainy day gnawing at the back of her mind. She remembered running down these streets as a child, humming and making big splashes as she made her way to a nearby bakery. There was something missing in that fragment of her past though, Amu could not quite place it. Something came after she reached the bakery – but she couldn't remember.

While she was busy with her thoughts, she had missed the shadows of approaching figures from her right side in the dark alley. She had brushed it off as a mere coincidence – but when she recognized the emblem on the bandana's wrapped around their forehands, even in the faint light, she knew they had come for her.

She was older now, and wiser for that matter. She knew the hidden secrets of the streets. What they kept and what they housed – she had already experienced all of it, so she was not particularly scared when she had purposely entered the empty alley and hooded figures had surrounded her. It was something that she had expected the moment she had been released from the Asylum.

She didn't want anybody to see the commotion, so she chose to go to them instead of it being the other way around. She wasn't frightened, nor was she nervous as she replayed the most likely scenario in her mind.

This was her retribution after all and she was ready to accept it. She had no intention of running.

She noted the steel bats clasped in each of their gloved hands. She stared up at the starless sky and for a moment; she savoured the sweet silence and monotonous song of the crickets. It was then broken by one of the hooded figures; Amu assumed that he was the leader of their little gang.

"Hinamori Amu, we will make you regret betraying us. What you experienced before was only a prelude to the hell you're going to go through tonight." It was a male voice and it was laced with undisguised animosity towards her.

Amu laughed inwardly at his choice of words. Hell, he says, not knowing that she had already gone through it more than once. This time wouldn't be any different from all the other times. There would be pain. Lots of it. But even so, she would wake up and continue on with her life anyway so she felt no fear. After this nightmare, she would wake and go on as usual.

She unconsciously touched her blind right eye and sighed. The darkness in her vision was always proof that she had somehow survived that Hell. She wondered briefly what inerasable scar she would bear after this.

One of the figures lunged at her without preamble and slammed a knee against her abdomen. The wind was knocked out of her and dropped to her knees. In the next second she felt a steel bat smash down on her shoulder. She bit her lip as she struggled against the fresh pain. Next came a kick to her right side and she took a deep intake of breath. Someone began pulling her hair and another trampled on her left arm. Amu had heard the distinctive sound of her wrist breaking and almost fainted from the pain.

"Don't hurt her face. I have something special ready for that," the leader said above the flurry of attacks they launched at her.

Amu bit the inside of her cheek so hard that she tasted the familiar metallic taste of blood. She closed her eyes and blocked out everything for a moment as she prayed to whichever kami was watching her. She prayed for the pain to lessen; she wanted to ease the pain – but not end it. She just needed strength to endure this. She had to live through it somehow… but if the gods decided she should die tonight, she would willingly accept it.

After a few moments, she felt nothing and it was a little late that she realized that the barrage of attacks had ceased. She opened her eyes and the throbbing pain of her whole body threatened to overwhelm her once more.

When she next opened her eyes, she saw the faintest star in the vast night sky. A few moments ago, she had only seen darkness in the sky above – but now she was able to find the smallest star in the distance. She didn't think it possible.

A star.

After such a long time of not seeing the sky, she found a star again. To Amu, it was the closest thing to a shooting star so she made a wish.

"I want to be forgiven." She whispered sincerely, despite the gushing pain from her arm.

"For what?" A deep male voice asked out of the blue. A tall figure loomed above her, blocking out her wishing star. She traced the silhouette of a violin case strapped slung over the stranger's shoulder but she couldn't make out his face. The uncharacteristic scent of female perfume wafted down from the stranger and it sidetracked her for a moment.

Amu forced herself to sit up and she felt needles of pain stab her everywhere. Her breaths came as hisses through her gritted teeth. The pain was almost unbearable – almost. But she would endure it. She would not allow herself to lose to it. Not after she had lived through it so many other times.

"Careful. I think you broke a few things," he warned her as he helped her up on her shaky legs. She almost fell down again with the wave of nausea and dizziness that hit her but thankfully, the stranger kept her upright.

When the wave has passed, only the painful throbbing of her wrist made her eyes water from the pain. "Where are they?" she forced herself to speak the question and stopped the urge to vomit that struck her as she spoke. The strangers scent was beginning to irritate her nose but she did her best to hide it, or it was more like she had more pressing matters on hand compared to a sensitive nose.

She tried to shake of the uncanny ringing in her ears and focused on hearing his reply. "Lying comfortably on the cold road. Hopefully some drunk driver will run over them." He answered promptly. Amu still couldn't see his face very well because of the pain slamming like waves against her every minute that passed but she still understood very clearly what he was saying.

She grabbed onto his sleeve tightly and gritted her teeth as another wave passed. "Don't leave them there, please. At least prop them against the wall or leave them on the sidewalk where they won't be harmed." Amu pleaded with him in a strained voice.

"Do I need to remind you what they just did to you?" The incredulity was evident in his voice, "You can barely stand upright and you want to keep them from harm?" She felt his arm stiffen under the sleeve she was grasping. She could hear the note of outrage in his calm voice.

"I can't… just leave them like that. What if something worse happens to them?" she replied with an effort. She was still struggling against the pain and she could barely hear him past the screams of her injured body.

She could not – and she would not hate anyone. She had sworn it with her blood. How could she make this stranger understand?

She couldn't – it was a simple as that.

Instead of waiting for his reply to her statement, she took careful and agonizing steps towards her attackers' unconscious bodies. After a few difficult steps, a firm hand gripped her forehand, making fresh pain shoot through her arm. Though she did not cry out, she felt the pain vividly enough to find herself biting her lip pretty hard.

She heard the stranger sigh and felt him release his grip on her arm.

"I don't know if you were hit on the head before I arrived, or whether you just conveniently forgot everything that happed a few moments ago, or even if you're just plain crazy – but if you're determined to help them, let me do it for you. God knows how you'll be able to move them in the current shape you're in."

Without another word, he strode towards them. He dragged all of them by the collar and dropped them carelessly on the sidewalk. All the while, Amu leaned against the cool brick wall tiredly and assessed the extent of her wounds. She had bruised ribs and shoulders, a broken wrist, a few new bruises, a few cuts and scrapes – well, it could have been much worse if this stranger had not helped her.

When he was finished, he pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his hands as he approached her. "Where does it hurt?" he asked shortly. Amu could sense his irritation and she knew that she had somehow caused it.

"I'm fine," she lied automatically and waved away his helping hand as she pulled herself together, standing firmly on her two legs. "Thank you." She added steadily, giving a small nod in his direction. She balled her fists and kept the pain from creeping into her voice.

"You're lying," he replied matter-of-factly, "It must be hurting like hell. You don't get ganged up on like that and end up fine." He added in a tone of obvious disbelief. She saw his head turn back to the direction of the small human pile on the sidewalk. "Are they friends of yours?" he questioned and Amu heard the hint of sarcasm when he had uttered the word friends.

"Acquaintances." She corrected him.

"And they did this to you because –?" his voice trailed off, she couldn't see his face in this light but she could tell he wanted some details. She hoped he couldn't see his face either – she wouldn't want him to get pulled into her affairs a second time.

"Because I deserved it. Anyway, thanks again for helping me. I have to get going now else I'd be in big trouble," Amu said as tried to guess what time it was. She had absolutely no idea, after living in an enclosed space for so long, it had become a habit not to bother with the time. It was still night, that much she could tell.

Apparently guessing her thoughts, the stranger's next words spared her the trouble, "It's almost one in the morning." She wondered how he knew when wasn't even wearing a watch. "Anyway, shouldn't you go to a hospital first?" he asked meaningfully and she was very much tempted to reply that she had more than her fair share of being in a hospital. But that was snappy, so she held her tongue.

"I'll survive," she said offhandedly. The worst that could happen was coming home in bandages to the worried and disappointed faces of her parents. She wouldn't bring them anymore grief. If there was pain, she was just going to have to deal with it on her own. She was baffled of course, as to how she was going to conceal of all the wounds she had amassed this evening.

She saw the stranger's broad shoulders shrug carelessly, "Suit yourself," there it was again, that hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I suppose you're going to reject whatever help I'm going to offer you now, aren't you?" he asked pointedly and Amu nibbled her lip.

"Well, yes." She admitted. "I've already troubled you more than necessary. It wouldn't be fair to inconvenience you any more than I already have." She didn't understand why but she felt a need to appease his annoyance with her. She just didn't like knowing that someone had a problem with her.

"Then I'll be going ahead," he said curtly and turned away from her. Before he could get any farther she called out to him.

"Wait!"

She saw his silhouette pause and turn back to look at her. She fumbled inside her clothes and found what she was looking for. When she pulled it over her head, she said, "Take this," she held out her hand and she heard him come closer.

She made out the outline of his slender hand and she dropped the tag onto his palm. "What's this?" he asked as he ran his fingers over it.

It was actually the tag she had worn the whole time she had lived in the Asylum – the old tag that kept her identity and sanity when she had lived in that hell. There were times back then that she would seem to forget who she was, but when she read that name tag, it helped her calm down. She wasn't sure she should have parted with it but she wasn't living in the Asylum anymore. She was back in the real world and she couldn't depend on such a thing anymore.

So instead of throwing it away or keeping it, she would let it be something of better use.

"My payment. I'm sorry, it's all I have."

"You didn't answer my question." He pointed out, turning over her treasure a few times as he tried to figure out the answer.

"Sorry, it's a name tag. As long as you have that you can find me again and I'll be ready to do one favor for you in return for helping me tonight. That's all I can pay you. But after I repay you, you have to promise never to get involved with me again." She explained hastily, trying not to trip on her words. She didn't like owing debts but this was all she could do for this stranger.

"I didn't help you hoping to be repaid for my services," he said and Amu knew that he thought she didn't need to compensate him.

"Yes, but I don't like owing debts. I'll be going then." Without another word, she hobbled past him and moved back to the street she had come from.

"I won't promise," he said audibly and Amu paused under the light of one of the streetlights. "But I will come to claim." He added and when Amu turned to protest, she found no trace of him in the alley.

She did not look back until she was sure he was a fair distance away from where she stood. When she paused to catch her breath, she stared at the sky, clutching her broken wrist, and searched for her wishing star. She scanned the sky more than twice but she was only left disappointed – it was nowhere in sight. She wondered briefly if it had just been a figment of her imagination when the pain in her hand broke through her thoughts, it completely slipped her mind.

The walk back home was complete agony. Amu walked for half a kilometer with her bruised and battered body. Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she realized how much more excruciating it was to climb up their fence and onto her balcony with a broken wrist and beat-up body.

When she had finally dropped back into the warm embrace of her bed and closed her eyes, it seemed only a second later that loud noisy knocks came on her door.

"Amu, wake up or you'll be late!" Ami's irritated voice seeped into the room through the gap under the door. Amu sat up abruptly and almost yelped at the sudden rush of pain. After half a minute, she heard her younger sister bounding down the stairs again and she breathed a sigh of relief.

As she was pulling herself up, she heard her mother's voice from behind her door. "Amu-chan, your uniform is in the closet and your undergarments are in the lower drawers. I prepared your schoolbag before you arrived, have you seen it? It's by your study desk so don't forget it, dear. Breakfast is ready so you should come down once you're changed."

"Okay." She called out loud enough for her mother to hear behind the door. Carefully, she sauntered towards her new closet and pulled it open. There were piles of new clothes she had never seen before and the smell of fresh laundry enveloped her immediately. They were all new – and her mother had laundered all of them for her to use.

She brushed the different colored fabrics and smiled as she recognized some of the brands. So she was going to be the black rebel punk girl again, was she? It's not that she disliked it very much, but it felt really nostalgic to imagine herself wearing these clothes.

She glimpsed the innermost part of the closet and found the uniform her mother had referred to. She pulled out the hanger holding it and scrutinized it. It was a more a less a black dress-like uniform with red plaid highlights here and there. The cuffs had a cross like emblem that Amu assumed was the official school emblem.

After a moment of inspecting the uniform, Amu realized why it seemed so familiar to her. It was the uniform older girls she passed on her way to school wore back when she was in middle school. There was a strange feeling that began bubbling inside her as she accepted that fact that she was supposed to be wearing this now.

What was it? Happiness? Excitement? Anticipation? She knew that it was neither of those.

She felt sad – sad at what she had missed and what she had taken for granted a year and a half ago.

She stripped off her clothes and carefully pulled on her uniform. As she pulled on the black stockings that covered up her bruises, she felt thankful that the uniform covered up most of her body. She wouldn't want her parents to see the current state of her body. Amu was determined to keep it a secret from all of them.

When she was fully dressed she descended the stairs carefully and reached the dining table where her parents and Ami were already seated. Her mother ran her eyes over her and she saw the tears her mother suppressed. Whether they were tears of happiness or tears of sadness, she honestly didn't know.

Amu took her old seat at the dining table wordlessly. When she looked in front of her, she found a new eating bowl ready for her this time. Even her eating bowl was new… had they thrown all of her stuff away when she had gone to the Asylum?

This was where it was going to be challenging for her. She had to eat… with a broken wrist. She couldn't give any indication that she was in pain or they would get suspicious. They were wary enough as it is. Amu settled with holding her rice bowl with her broken wrist and eating with her other. She ate slow enough that her wrist wouldn't ache but fast enough that they wouldn't notice she was eating slower than expected.

For the whole duration of the meal, Amu gritted her teeth as she chewed to parry the flashes of pain shooting up her arm. It didn't escape her notice though that nobody spoke at the dining table. Ami refused to look in her general direction and her parents glanced at her frequently as if she was going to explode any moment.

When she had swallowed her final grain of rice, she gladly left the table and readied herself for school.

"Ami, accompany your sister to her school. I'm not sure she remembers where it is." Her mother addressed her younger sister in an imploring tone but Ami frowned emphatically.

"I have to meet up with Yukina today. Amu can find it by herself, she's 16 already, not ten. Since when did the younger sister ever have to take the older sister to school anyway?" she asked sarcastically and eyes flashing with annoyance. She crossed her arms and let out a huff.

"Ami!" her mother scolded her.

Amu looked at her younger sister as she spoke. Her tone was angry and irritated but to Amu, Ami sounded close to tears.

"It's okay, mother. She's right. I won't learn if I won't be able to find it by myself. The school is somewhere along the path of my old elementary school right?" At her use of the formal term for mother, her mother stopped and looked back at her with a hurt expression, to Amu's surprise. Her father replied for her mother.

"Well, yes. But Amu-chan, are you sure? Should I accompany you?" Worry began to seep into his frightened eyes.

"There's no need. Don't worry; I can take care of myself." At her words, her parents eyes darkened and their expressions turned somber. Amu realized a little late what her words had implied. An awkward silence followed to which Ami stood up, glared at her, then exited the room with a bang. When she looked at the sad faces of her parents, she knew she couldn't retract it. She decided to exit quietly instead.

She picked up her bag with her good hand and bade them farewell, "I'm off."

When she was back in the familiar streets of her childhood, a wave of nostalgia washed over her. What was going to happen now, she had no idea. But there was no turning back; she had to face reality one more time – this was her second chance, and Amu had no intention of wasting it anymore. She stood on the porch, took a deep breath and made the first step of her new life.

-OoO-

Endnote: I actually intended to add this to my last update but I completely forgot. Now that I'm updating again I suppose I should drop it in now. I hope you like it! It's kind of angsty but I purposely made it that way so I'm sorry if it's not to your tastes. I do hope you leave a review so I can see if it's a plot bunny worth pursuing. :D thanks in advance.

See ya!